Patent ID: 8128735

Claim:
A method of separating CO 2 from a process gas stream comprised of CO 2 and other gaseous constituents in an adsorption/desorption cycle using a zeolite sorbent, where the desorption cycle is conducted under conditions of increased temperature and increased CO 2 pressure to produce a high pressure output gas stream, comprising: Generating an input gas stream comprised of the process gas stream, such that the input gas stream is comprised of CO 2 and other gaseous constituents, and such that the input gas stream has a first CO 2 pressure; Contacting the input gas stream with the zeolite sorbent at a first temperature and the first CO 2 pressure, such that the zeolite sorbent adsorbs some portion of the CO 2 from the input gas stream, and transferring heat from the zeolite sorbent with a first heat transfer to maintain the zeolite sorbent at the first temperature, thereby producing a loaded zeolite sorbent; Surrounding the loaded zeolite sorbent with a CO 2 atmosphere comprised of at least 90 mol % CO 2 to attain a second CO 2 pressure, where the second CO 2 pressure is greater than the first CO 2 pressure, and increasing the temperature of the loaded zeolite sorbent to a second temperature by transferring heat to the loaded zeolite sorbent with a second heat transfer, thereby producing desorbed CO 2 from the loaded zeolite sorbent and producing an unloaded zeolite sorbent; and Generating the output gas stream, where the output gas stream is comprised of some portion of the CO 2 atmosphere and some portion of the desorbed CO 2 , thereby separating CO 2 from a process gas stream comprised of CO 2 and other gaseous constituents in an adsorption/desorption cycle using a zeolite sorbent, where the desorption cycle is conducted under conditions of increased temperature and increased CO 2 pressure to produce a high pressure output gas stream.