Highly microporous nitrogen-doped carbons from anthracite for effective CO2 capture and CO2/CH4 separation

Yao Li, Nan Liu, Tao Zhang, Binbin Wang, Yan Wang, Lanyun Wang and Jianping Wei

Energy, 2020, vol. 211, issue C

Abstract: The goal of this study is to develop a cost-efficient carbon adsorbent for effective CO2 capture and CO2/CH4 separation. Using anthracite as the precursor, highly microporous nitrogen-doped (N-doped) carbons are fabricated through a combination of KOH activation and urea treatment. The as-prepared carbon samples possess developed microporosity and large nitrogen content. The sample synthesized under mild KOH/anthracite ratio (KOH/anthracite = 2), following with urea treatment shows a remarkable CO2 uptake of 4.46 mmol g−1, among the highest achieved for N-doped porous carbons. This high CO2 capture capability should be attributed to the synergistic effect of large amount of narrow micropores (pore with＜1 nm) and nitrogen doping in the carbon adsorbent. Experiment evidence suggests that nitrogen doping contributes much on CO2/CH4 selectivity than that on CO2 capture. According to ideal adsorption solution theory (IAST), assuming different binary mixture proportions of 50/50, 30/70 and 15/85, the sample possessing the largest nitrogen content (6.48 wt %) exhibits CO2/CH4 IAST selectivities of 8.83, 7.02 and 8.09, respectively. Combining excellent CO2 capture capacity and desirable CO2/CH4 separation property, the microporous N-doped carbons prepared in this work appear to be a very promising candidate for greenhouse gas treatment and natural gas upgrading.

Keywords: Highly microporous; Nitrogen-doped carbons; KOH activation; Urea treatment; Effective CO2 capture; CO2/CH4 separation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:energy:v:211:y:2020:i:c:s0360544220316698

DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2020.118561

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