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Ultra‐High Surface Area Activated Porous Asphalt for CO 2 Capture through Competitive Adsorption at High Pressures
Author(s) -
Jalilov Almaz S.,
Li Yilun,
Tian Jian,
Tour James M.
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
advanced energy materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 10.08
H-Index - 220
eISSN - 1614-6840
pISSN - 1614-6832
DOI - 10.1002/aenm.201600693
Subject(s) - materials science , bar (unit) , asphaltene , adsorption , asphalt , sorption , porosity , mesoporous material , specific surface area , chemical engineering , carbon fibers , analytical chemistry (journal) , composite material , organic chemistry , chemistry , catalysis , composite number , physics , meteorology , engineering
This study reports an improved method for activating asphalt to produce ultra‐high surface area porous carbons. Pretreatment of asphalt (untreated Gilsonite, uGil ) at 400 °C for 3 h removes the more volatile organic compounds to form pretreated asphalt ( uGil‐P ) material with a larger fraction of higher molecular weight π‐conjugated asphaltenes. Subsequent activation of uGil‐P at 900 °C gives an ultra‐high surface area (4200 m 2 g −1 ) porous carbon material ( uGil‐900 ) with a mixed micro and mesoporous structure. uGil‐900 shows enhanced room temperature CO 2 uptake capacity at 54 bar of 154 wt% (35 mmol g −1 ). The CH 4 uptake capacity is 37.5 wt% (24 mmol g −1 ) at 300 bar. These are relevant pressures in natural gas production. The room temperature working CO 2 uptake capacity for uGil‐900 is 19.1 mmol g −1 (84 wt%) at 20 bar and 32.6 mmol g −1 (143 wt%) at 50 bar. In order to further assess the reliability of uGil‐900 for CO 2 capture at elevated pressures, the authors study competitive sorption of CO 2 and CH 4 on uGil‐900 at pressures from 1 to 20 bar at 25 °C. CO 2 /CH 4 displacement constants are measured at 2 to 40 bar, and found to increase significantly with pressure and surface area.