Introduction
The study of the kinetics of the competitive adsorption of
multicomponent gas mixtures on solid adsorbents is important
for a range of practical adsorption processes. One such
environmental application is carbon capture and storage (CCS)
[1], which includes the use of geological CO2 storage methods
as well as the pre-combustion capture of carbon dioxide from
syngas and post-combustion separation from flue gases [1-3].
The former include the storage of carbon dioxide in depleted
oil and gas reservoirs and coal seams, while the latter use any
one of a number of methods, including adsorption, to separate
gaseous carbon dioxide from multicomponent gas flows. A
range of porous materials are known to preferentially adsorb
carbon dioxide over other species. These include activated
carbons, zeolites and metal organic frameworks (MOFs), and
these materials are therefore being considered for use in CCS
technology [3]. The equilibria and kinetics of multicomponent
adsorption from a number of different mixtures, including
CO2/CH4, CO2/H2 and CO2/N2, are of fundamental importance
to CCS technology, because the binary combinations
mentioned above effectively represent a range of practical
pre- and post-combustion gas streams. However, the
experimental determination of the kinetics of multicomponent
adsorption, in particular, is practically challenging.
