Effect of the porous structure in carbon materials for CO2 capture at atmospheric and high-pressure

Carbon, Volume 67, February 2014, Pages 230–235
Effect of the porous structure in carbon materials for CO2 capture at atmospheric and high-pressure
Mirian E. Casco, Manuel Martínez-Escandell, Joaquín Silvestre-Albero, Francisco Rodríguez-Reinoso
Laboratorio de Materiales Avanzados, Departamento de Química Inorgánica-Instituto Universitario de Materiales, Universidad de Alicante, Ap.99, E-03080 Alicante, Spain
Abstract
Activated carbons prepared from petroleum pitch and using KOH as activating agent display excellent behavior in CO2 capture both at atmospheric and high pressure. However, close examination of the adsorption process shows that the optimum carbon structure, in terms of adsorption capacity, depends on the final application.
While narrow micropores govern the sorption behavior at 0.1 MPa, large micropores/small mesopores govern the sorption behavior at high pressure. Consequently, an optimum sorbent exhibiting a high working capacity for high pressure applications, as in pressure-swing adsorption units, requires a poorly-developed narrow microporous structure together with a highly-developed wide microporous and small mesoporous network.
The appropriate design of the preparation conditions gives rise to carbon materials with an extremely high delivery capacity ∼1388 mg CO2/g between 4.5 MPa and 0.1 MPa. Authors offer guidelines for the design of carbon materials with an improved ability to remove carbon dioxide from the environment at atmospheric and high pressure.
Full Text Source (Subscription or Fee): http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0008622313009408