Synergistic effect of surfactant and silica nanoflowers support on CO2 capture from simulated flue gas by solid amine adsorbents

Solid amine adsorbents were synthesized by functionalizing silica nanoflowers (MSN) with large pore volume using Pluronic P123 (P123) and Polyethyleneimine (PEI) to explore their synergistic effect of CO 2 capture. At the optimal loading of 65 wt% PEI and 5 wt% P123, the adsorbent (65PEI/5P123-MSN) displayed peak adsorption performance of 4.12 mmol/g under the dry condition. Notably, the introduction of 3 vol% moisture further increased the adsorption capacity of 65PEI/5P123-MSN to 5.33 mmol/g. Meanwhile, the Avrami kinetic model and the thermodynamic analysis shows that adding P123 reduces adsorption heat (55.89 kJ/mol) and regeneration energy (2.01 GJ/ton) of the adsorbent.