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High‐Surface‐Area Carbon Molecular Sieves for Selective CO 2 Adsorption
Author(s) -
Wahby Anass,
RamosFernández José M.,
MartínezEscandell Manuel,
SepúlvedaEscribano Antonio,
SilvestreAlbero Joaquín,
RodríguezReinoso Francisco
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
chemsuschem
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.412
H-Index - 157
eISSN - 1864-564X
pISSN - 1864-5631
DOI - 10.1002/cssc.201000083
Subject(s) - molecular sieve , adsorption , carbon fibers , chemical engineering , heterogeneous catalysis , materials science , nanotechnology , chemistry , catalysis , organic chemistry , composite number , engineering , composite material
A series of carbon molecular sieves (CMSs) has been prepared, either as powders or monoliths, from petroleum pitch using potassium hydroxide as the activating agent. The CMS monoliths are prepared without the use of a binder based on the self‐sintering ability of the mesophase pitch. Characterization results show that these CMSs combine a large apparent surface area (up to ca. 3100 m 2 g −1 ) together with a well‐developed narrow microporosity ( V n up to ca. 1.4 cm 3 g −1 ). The materials exhibit high adsorption capacities for CO 2 at 1 bar and 273 K (up to ca. 380 mg CO 2 g sorbent −1 ). To our knowledge, this is the best result obtained for CO 2 adsorption using carbon‐based materials. Furthermore, although the CO 2 adsorption capacity for activated carbons has usually been considered lower than that of zeolites, the reported values exceed the total amount adsorbed on traditional 13X and 5A zeolites (ca. 230 mg and 180 mg CO 2 g sorbent −1 , respectively), under identical experimental conditions. Additionally, the narrow pore openings found in the CMS samples (ca. 0.4 nm) allows for the selective adsorption of CO 2 from molecules of similar dimensions (e.g., CH 4 and N 2 ).