Tuning porosity of coal-derived activated carbons for CO₂ adsorption

Abstract

A simple method was developed to tune the porosity of coal-derived activated carbons, which provided a model adsorbent system to investigate the volumetric CO₂ adsorption performance. Specifically, the method involved the variation of the activation temperature in a K₂CO₃ induced chemical activation process which could yield activated carbons with defined microporous (< 2 nm, including ultra-microporous < 1 nm) and meso-micro-porous structures. CO₂ adsorption isotherms revealed that the microporous activated carbon has the highest measured CO₂ adsorption capacity (6.0 mmol∙g^–1 at 0 °C and 4.1 mmol∙g^–1 at 25 °C), whilst ultra-microporous activated carbon with a high packing density exhibited the highest normalized capacity with respect to packing volume (1.8 mmol∙cm⁻³ at 0 °C and 1.3 mmol∙cm^–3 at 25 °C), which is significant. Both experimental correlation analysis and molecular dynamics simulation demonstrated that (i) volumetric CO₂ adsorption capacity is directly proportional to the ultra-micropore volume, and (ii) an increase in micropore sizes is beneficial to improve the volumetric capacity, but may lead a low CO₂ adsorption density and thus low pore space utilization efficiency. The adsorption experiments on the activated carbons established the criterion for designing CO₂ adsorbents with high volumetric adsorption capacity.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

coal-derived activated carbons / porosity / CO₂ adsorption / molecular dynamics

References

[1] Li J, Michalkiewicz B, Min J, Ma C, Chen X, Gong J, Mijowska E, Tang T. Selective preparation of biomass-derived porous carbon with controllable pore sizes toward highly efficient CO₂ capture. Chemical Engineering Journal, 2019, 360 : 250– 259

[2] Kierzkowska A M, Pacciani R, Müller C R. CaO-based CO₂ sorbents: from fundamentals to the development of new, highly effective materials. ChemSusChem, 2013, 6( 7): 1130– 1148

[3] Wang S, Li X, Wu H, Tian Z, Xin Q, He G, Peng D, Chen S, Yin Y, Jiang Z, Guiver M D. Advances in high permeability polymer-based membrane materials for CO₂ separations. Energy & Environmental Science, 2016, 9( 6): 1863– 1890

[4] Du N, Park H B, Dal-Cin M M, Guiver M D. Advances in high permeability polymeric membrane materials for CO₂ separations. Energy & Environmental Science, 2012, 5( 6): 7306– 7322

[5] Yu Q, Delgado J P, Veneman R, Brilman D W F. Stability of a benzyl amine based CO₂ capture adsorbent in view of regeneration strategies. Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, 2017, 56( 12): 3259– 3269

[6] Li X, Hou M, Zhang Z, Han B, Yang G, Wang X, Zou L. Absorption of CO₂ by ionic liquid/polyethylene glycol mixture and the thermodynamic parameters. Green Chemistry, 2008, 10( 8): 879– 884

[7] Lee Z H, Lee K T, Bhatia S, Mohamed A R. Post-combustion carbon dioxide capture: evolution towards utilization of nanomaterials. Renewable & Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2012, 16( 5): 2599– 2609

[8] Yaumi A L, Bakar M Z A, Hameed B H. Recent advances in functionalized composite solid materials for carbon dioxide capture. Energy, 2017, 124 : 461– 480

[9] Li D, Chen Y, Zheng M, Zhao H, Zhao Y, Sun Z. Hierarchically structured porous nitrogen-doped carbon for highly selective CO₂ capture. ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, 2016, 4( 1): 298– 304

[10] Qie Z, Sun F, Gao J, Pi X, Wang L, Liu M, Qu Z, Zhao G. Enhanced SO₂ fluidized adsorption dynamic by hierarchically porous activated coke. Journal of the Energy Institute, 2020, 93( 2): 802– 810

[11] Kim J, Lin L C, Swisher J A, Haranczyk M, Smit B. Predicting large CO₂ adsorption in aluminosilicate zeolites for postcombustion carbon dioxide capture. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2012, 134( 46): 18940– 18943

[12] Al-Maythalony B A, Shekhah O, Swaidan R, Belmabkhout Y, Pinnau I, Eddaoudi M. Quest for anionic MOF membranes: continuous sod-ZMOF membrane with CO₂ adsorption-driven selectivity. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2015, 137( 5): 1754– 1757

[13] Qi G, Wang Y, Estevez L, Duan X, Anako N, Park A H A, Li W, Jones C W, Giannelis E P. High efficiency nanocomposite sorbents for CO₂ capture based on amine-functionalized mesoporous capsules. Energy & Environmental Science, 2011, 4( 2): 444– 452

[14] Oginni O, Singh K, Oporto G, Dawson-Andoh B, McDonald L, Sabolsky E. Influence of one-step and two-step KOH activation on activated carbon characteristics. Bioresource Technology Reports, 2019, 7 : 100266

[15] Deng H, Li G, Yang H, Tang J, Tang J. Preparation of activated carbons from cotton stalk by microwave assisted KOH and K₂CO₃ activation. Chemical Engineering Journal, 2010, 163( 3): 373– 381

[16] Oginni O, Singh K, Oporto G, Dawson-Andoh B, McDonald L, Sabolsky E. Effect of one-step and two-step H₃PO₄ activation on activated carbon characteristics. Bioresource Technology Reports, 2019, 8 : 100307

[17] Tseng R L. Physical and chemical properties and adsorption type of activated carbon prepared from plum kernels by NaOH activation. Journal of Hazardous Materials, 2007, 147( 3): 1020– 1027

[18] Yue L, Xia Q, Wang L, Wang L, DaCosta H, Yang J, Hu X. CO₂ adsorption at nitrogen-doped carbons prepared by K₂CO₃ activation of urea-modified coconut shell. Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, 2018, 511 : 259– 267

[19] Kim M J, Choi S W, Kim H, Mun S, Lee K B. Simple synthesis of spent coffee ground-based microporous carbons using K₂CO₃ as an activation agent and their application to CO₂ capture. Chemical Engineering Journal, 2020, 397 : 125404

[20] Deng S, Wei H, Chen T, Wang B, Huang J, Yu G. Superior CO₂ adsorption on pine nut shell-derived activated carbons and the effective micropores at different temperatures. Chemical Engineering Journal, 2014, 253 : 46– 54

[21] Rashidi N A, Yusup S. An overview of activated carbons utilization for the post-combustion carbon dioxide capture. Journal of CO₂ Utilization , 2016, 13 : 1– 16

[22] Jagiello J, Kenvin J, Celzard A, Fierro V. Enhanced resolution of ultra micropore size determination of biochars and activated carbons by dual gas analysis using N₂ and CO₂ with 2D-NLDFT adsorption models. Carbon, 2019, 144 : 206– 215

[23] Feng S, Li W, Shi Q, Li Y, Chen J, Ling Y, Asiri A M, Zhao D. Synthesis of nitrogen-doped hollow carbon nanospheres for CO₂ capture. Chemical Communications, 2014, 50( 3): 329– 331

[24] Kim J, Han J, Ha D, Kang S. Synthesis of nitrogen and boron co-doped carbon (CNB) and their CO₂ capture properties: from porous to hollow granule structure. Journal of Materials Chemistry A, 2014, 2( 39): 16645– 16651

[25] He X, Zhang H, Zhang H, Li X, Xiao N, Qiu J. Direct synthesis of 3D hollow porous graphene balls from coal tar pitch for high performance supercapacitors. Journal of Materials Chemistry A, 2014, 2( 46): 19633– 19640

[26] Alabadi A, Razzaque S, Yang Y, Chen S, Tan B. Highly porous activated carbon materials from carbonized biomass with high CO₂ capturing capacity. Chemical Engineering Journal, 2015, 281 : 606– 612

[27] Qie Z, Zhang Z, Sun F, Wang L, Pi X, Gao J, Zhao G. Effect of pore hierarchy and pore size on the combined adsorption of SO₂ and toluene in activated coke. Fuel, 2019, 257 : 116090

[28] Deng S, Hu B, Chen T, Wang B, Huang J, Wang Y, Yu G. Activated carbons prepared from peanut shell and sunflower seed shell for high CO₂ adsorption. Adsorption, 2015, 21( 1-2): 125– 133

[29] Li D, Zhou J, Wang Y, Tian Y, Wei L, Zhang Z, Qiao Y, Li J. Effects of activation temperature on densities and volumetric CO₂ adsorption performance of alkali-activated carbons. Fuel, 2019, 238 : 232– 239

[30] Liu J, Liu X, Sun Y, Sun C, Liu H, Stevens L A, Li K, Snape C E. High density and super ultra-microporous-activated carbon macrospheres with high volumetric capacity for CO₂ capture. Advanced Sustainable Systems, 2018, 2( 2): 1700115

[31] Haffner-Staton E, Balahmar N, Mokaya R. High yield and high packing density porous carbon for unprecedented CO₂ capture from the first attempt at activation of air-carbonized biomass. Journal of Materials Chemistry A, 2016, 4( 34): 13324– 13335

[32] Guo L, Yang J, Hu G, Hu X, Wang L, Dong Y, DaCosta H, Fan M. Role of hydrogen peroxide preoxidizing on CO₂ adsorption of nitrogen-doped carbons produced from coconut shell. ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, 2016, 4( 5): 2806– 2813

[33] Fan Z, Cheng Z, Feng J, Xie Z, Liu Y, Wang Y. Ultrahigh volumetric performance of a free-standing compact N-doped holey graphene/PANI slice for supercapacitors. Journal of Materials Chemistry A, 2017, 5( 32): 16689– 16701

[34] Wang L, Sun F, Gao J, Pi X, Pei T, Qie Z, Zhao G, Qin Y. A novel melt infiltration method promoting porosity development of low-rank coal derived activated carbon as supercapacitor electrode materials. Journal of the Taiwan Institute of Chemical Engineers, 2018, 91 : 588– 596

[35] Kommu A, Singh J K. Separation of ethanol and water using graphene and hexagonal boron nitride slit pores: a molecular dynamics study. Journal of Physical Chemistry C, 2017, 121( 14): 7867– 7880

[36] Zhou H, Xie J, Liu B, Ban S. Molecular simulation of methane adsorption in activated carbon: the impact of pore structure and surface chemistry. Molecular Simulation, 2016, 42( 9): 776– 782

[37] Malde A K, Zuo L, Breeze M, Stroet M, Poger D, Nair P C, Oostenbrink C, Mark A E. An automated force field topology builder (ATB) and repository: version 1.0. Journal of Chemical Theory and Computation, 2011, 7( 12): 4026– 4037

[38] Miller D L, Kubista K D, Rutter G M, Ruan M, De Heer W A, Kindermann M, First P N, Stroscio J A. Real-space mapping of magnetically quantized graphene states. Nature Physics, 2010, 6( 10): 811– 817

[39] Qie Z, Sun F, Zhang Z, Pi X, Qu Z, Gao J, Zhao G. A facile trace potassium assisted catalytic activation strategy regulating pore topology of activated coke for combined removal of toluene/SO₂/NO. Chemical Engineering Journal, 2020, 389 : 124262

[40] Wang L, Sun F, Hao F, Qu Z, Gao J, Liu M, Wang K, Zhao G, Qin Y. A green trace K₂CO₃ induced catalytic activation strategy for developing coal-converted activated carbon as advanced candidate for CO₂ adsorption and supercapacitors. Chemical Engineering Journal, 2020, 383 : 123205

[41] Sun F, Gao J, Yang Y, Zhu Y, Wang L, Pi X, Liu X, Qu Z, Wu S, Qin Y. One-step ammonia activation of Zhundong coal generating nitrogen-doped microporous carbon for gas adsorption and energy storage. Carbon, 2016, 109 : 747– 754

[42] Plaza M G, González A S, Pis J J, Rubiera F, Pevida C. Production of microporous biochars by single-step oxidation: effect of activation conditions on CO₂ capture. Applied Energy, 2014, 114 : 551– 562

[43] Vargas D P, Giraldo L, Erto A, Moreno-Piraján J C. Chemical modification of activated carbon monoliths for CO₂ adsorption. Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry, 2013, 114( 3): 1039– 1047

[44] Zhu X L, Wang P Y, Peng C, Yang J, Yan X B. Activated carbon produced from paulownia sawdust for high-performance CO₂ sorbents. Chinese Chemical Letters, 2014, 25( 6): 929– 932

[45] Plaza M G, González A S, Pevida C, Pis J J, Rubiera F. Valorisation of spent coffee grounds as CO₂ adsorbents for postcombustion capture applications. Applied Energy, 2012, 99 : 272– 279

[46] Parshetti G K, Chowdhury S, Balasubramanian R. Biomass derived low-cost microporous adsorbents for efficient CO₂ capture. Fuel, 2015, 148 : 246– 254

[47] Wang J, Heerwig A, Lohe M R, Oschatz M, Borchardt L, Kaskel S. Fungi-based porous carbons for CO₂ adsorption and separation. Journal of Materials Chemistry, 2012, 22( 28): 13911– 13913

[48] Sevilla M, Fuertes A B. Sustainable porous carbons with a superior performance for CO₂ capture. Energy & Environmental Science, 2011, 4( 5): 1765– 1771

[49] Silvestre-Albero A, Silvestre-Albero J, Martínez-Escandell M, Rodríguez-Reinoso F. Micro/mesoporous activated carbons derived from polyaniline: promising candidates for CO₂ adsorption. Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, 2014, 53( 40): 15398– 15405

[50] Wang L, Sun F, Gao J, Zhu Y, Pei T, Li L, Zhao G, Qin Y. Pore reorganization of porous carbon during trace calcium-catalyzed coal activation for adsorption applications. Energy & Fuels, 2018, 32( 9): 9191– 9201

RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS

Higher Education Press