Reinventing rice husk ash: derived NaX zeolite as a high-performing CO2 adsorbent

In this work, rice husk ash was used as silica source to synthesize NaX zeolite potentially suitable for CO2 adsorption. The produced material, denoted NaX-RHA, was characterized employing X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and gas adsorption porosimetry, in order to verify the occurred production of well-crystallized NaX zeolite with a significant degree of purity. CO2 adsorption isotherms on NaX-RHA were volumetrically evaluated in the 298–348 K temperature range up to standard pressure, revealing performances that are higher than those reported for commercial similar substrates. The experimental data regarding CO2 adsorption on NaX-RHA were very satisfyingly fitted by the semiempirical Sips model. Analyzing the best fitting values of model parameters allowed to conclude that the synthesized adsorbent could be quite suitable for applications like CO2 capture from flue gas.