Adsorption - Introduction to Carbon Capture and Sequestration - page 231

Chapter 6
Adsorption
Only one letter separates A b sorption from A d sorption, yet these
two methods to capture carbon dioxide differ in important ways.
Adsorption is the process by which the surface of a solid holds
on to small molecules in solution or in the gas phase. In other
words, the molecules reside on the surface of the material. In
absorption , the molecules actually enter into the material. One
way these differences play out is in the development of strate-
gies for increasing the capacity of the capture material. With
absorption , increasing the capacity of the technology usually
involves increasing the amount of capture material. In contrast,
with adsorbents , increasing capacity involves increasing the
exposed surface area of the material.