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Materials Science in Additive Manufacturing Emerging 3D-printed zeolitic gas adsorbents

such as 3D printing. However, the coating for synthesizing 2.3. 3D printing systems
structured adsorbents has drawbacks that include a Compared to conventional shaping and structuring
relatively low overall capacity per unit mass due to the methods, 3D printing has emerged as a promising
large weight percentage of the substrate, the potential fabrication approach for zeolite absorbents by offering
for nonuniform coating leading to mass transport higher flexibility of geometry and versatility of materials.
limitations, and the lack of rigid binding between the In general, 3D printing has the potential to achieve high
adsorbent film and the substrate. In addition, the use of a resolution, down to a fraction of a millimeter (microns), and
substrate may introduce additional costs and complexity can produce intricate and complex structures. Traditional
to the manufacturing process. Figure 4 summarizes and manufacturing methods, such as die-based extrusion
compares the characteristics of the above-mentioned or coating, can also achieve high precision but may have
shaping and structuring methods for the zeolitic gas limitations regarding interlocking channel systems. It is
adsorbents. critical to achieve gas adsorbent with both high adsorption

A B

Figure 3. Comparison between the maximum flow velocities for (A) extruded honeycomb and (B) 3D-printed monoliths. Adapted with permission from
Stuecker et al. .
[72]

Figure 4. Comparison of characteristics of conventional shaping and structuring methods for zeolite gas adsorbents.

Volume 2 Issue 4 (2023) 6 https://doi.org/10.36922/msam.1880