Microwave Assisted Regeneration of Na-ETS-10

Abstract

In adsorptive separation of binary gas mixtures, regeneration techniques require either a long operation time or high energy consumption. Microwave heating offers the advantage of faster heating and lower energy consumption. A comparison of microwave heating and conductive heating for the regeneration of sodium exchanged Engelhard titanosilicate (Na-ETS-10) showed that, for microwave heating, the energy consumption was 0.7 kJ/g Na-ETS-10, and the gas recovery was 94% for C2H4/C2H6 and 70% for CO2/CH4. Conductive heating had an energy consumption of 7.7~7.9 kJ/g Na-ETS-10 and resulted in 71% gas recovery for C2H4/C2H6 and 57% for CO2/CH4. In another comparison, it was observed that water desorption required more energy than microwave heating in both the constant power and constant temperature modes and, therefore, was not a potential technique for regenerating Na-ETS-10. Hence, microwave heating can be used as a more efficient and energy-saving regeneration technique for Na-ETS-10 for adsorptive separation of binary mixtures.