Scalable Jet‐Based Fabrication of <scp>PEI</scp>‐Hydrogel Particles for <scp>CO<sub>2</sub></scp> Capture
Jieke Jiang, Eline van Daatselaar, Hylke Wijnja, Tessa de Koning Gans, Michel Schellevis, Cornelis H. Venner, D.W.F. Brilman, Claas Willem Visser
Abstract
The capture, regeneration, and conversion of CO 2 from ambient air and flue gas streams are critical aspects of mitigating global warming. Solid sorbents for CO 2 absorption are very promising as they have high mass transfer areas without energy input and reduce emissions and minimize corrosion as compared to liquid sorbents. However, precisely tunable solid CO 2 sorbents are difficult to produce. Here, we demonstrate the high‐throughput production of hydrogel‐based CO 2 ‐absorbing particles via liquid jetting. By wrapping a liquid jet consisting of an aqueous solution of cross‐linkable branched polyethylenimine (PEI) with a layer of suspension containing hydrophobic silica nanoparticles, monodisperse droplets with a silica nanoparticle coating layer was formed in the air. A stable Pickering emulsion containing PEI droplets was obtained after these ejected droplets were collected in a heated oil bath. The droplets turn into mm‐sized particles after thermal curing in the bath. The diameter, PEI content, and silica content of the particles were systematically varied, and their CO 2 absorption was measured as a function of time. Steam regeneration of the particles enabled cyclic testing, revealing a CO 2 absorption capacity of 6.5 ± 0.5 mol kg −1 solid PEI in pure CO 2 environments and 0.7 ± 0.3 mol kg −1 solid PEI for direct air capture. Several thousands of particles were produced per second at a rate of around 0.5 kg per hour, with a single nozzle. This process can be further scaled by parallelization. The complete toolbox for the design, fabrication, testing, and regeneration of functional hydrogel particles provides a powerful route toward novel solid sorbents for regenerative CO 2 capture.