3D simulation of carbon monoxide purification with CuCl(7.0)/AC by pressure swing adsorption process

In this work, the separation of carbon monoxide (CO) from a synthesis gas (syngas) mixture was modeled. It was considered a copper-based adsorbent consisting of cuprous chloride (CuCl) on an activated carbon (AC) support (CuCl/AC) in a pressure swing adsorption (PSA) process. First, the adsorption of syngas components on the CuCl/AC adsorbent at 303.15 K was simulated to determine the required data. Next, the PSA process to separate CO from syngas using CuCl/AC absorbent at ambient temperature and pressure of 1000 kPa was evaluated by computational fluid dynamics simulation. The simulation results showed that with an adsorption bed of 2 m in height and 1 m in diameter, CO with appropriate purity (~ 99.5%) is separated from syngas by CuCl/AC. In addition, reducing the inlet feed pressure, or in other words, its velocity or flow can increase the efficiency of the operation (e.g, with a shorter bed height of 0.5 m, a CO purity of more than 99.8% can be achieved at 700 kPa, but with a significant increase in operating cost).