CO2 capture using natural montmorillonite clay minerals.

The main objective is to optimize the CO2 uptake capacity in a commercial natural clay, montmorillonite (Mt), to aim for the foundation for rapid technology validation and demonstration in an industrially relevant environment. Recently it was found by the experiment group, that the synthetic clay mineral Ni-Fluorohectorite (Ni-Hec) is competitive with alternative materials (MOFs, activated carbon etc.) regarding CO2 volumetric adsorption capacity. It was also demonstrated that the CO2 adsorption mechanism in Ni-Hec is due to an intercalated nickel hydroxide species, and that Ni-Hec with lower layer charge adsorbs more CO2 at lower pressure. The optimum layer charge of Ni-Hec is like the layer of natural montmorillonite clay (commercial brand name bentonite). The experiment will study prepared Ni-Mt powder samples to investigate if this identified hydroxide mechanism for CO2 capture also can be activated in abundant low-cost natural clays, here Mt.