Carbon-reinforced MgCl2 composites with high structural stability as robust ammonia carriers for selective catalytic reduction system

Abstract

Novel carbon-MgCl2 composites were designed as robust ammonia carriers for selective catalytic reduction (SCR) system, with graphite (Gt) and graphene nanoplatelets aggregates (GNA) as additives to MgCl2. The cylindrically pelletized composites manifested high structural stability above the melting temperature of MgCl2 with 95 % mass retention, whereas the pure MgCl2 pellets completely lost their structural integrity. With the support of carbon additives, molten MgCl2 in the composites was isolated and retained the sample-to-holder angle of 90°, contrary to pure MgCl2 of 5.7° contact angle at 1073 K. Furthermore, the composites demonstrated rapid ammonia sorption and desorption kinetics, due to the enhanced surface area and creation of additional microporosity. Our results demonstrated that 20 wt.% GNA-80 wt.% MgCl2 (GNA20) composite presented 83 % faster kinetics in ammonia sorption and 73% faster in the first-2-minutes of desorption compared to the pure MgCl2. The enhancement of both structural stability and sorption kinetics makes the GNA20 composite a robust ammonia carrier.

Zhejian Cao

Postdoc

My research interests include 2D materials, semiconductor materials, and porous materials.