Pine cone-based activated carbon via dual physical activation for efficient carbon dioxide capture: Experimental and molecular simulation studies

Guangyao Li, Hao Yu, Dongxu Ji, Chuanyong Zhu, Kyaw Thu and Takahiko Miyazaki

Energy, 2025, vol. 328, issue C

Abstract: Bio-based activated carbon is a promising adsorbent material for carbon capture due to its renewability, high adsorption capacity, and low cost. This study investigates pine cone-derived activated carbon prepared through an innovative dual physical activation process using CO2 and steam, focusing on the effects of activation parameters on structural properties and CO2 capture performance. The optimized material demonstrates a specific surface area of 1321.6 m2/g, a microporous volume of 0.354 cm3/g, and an excellent CO2 adsorption capacity of 3.2 mmol/g at 298.15 K and 1 bar. Structural analysis underscores the critical role of microporous volume in enhancing CO2 adsorption. A virtual porous carbon model is developed by combining experimental characterization with molecular simulations. The Grand Canonical Monte Carlo results indicate good CO2 selectivity under simulated flue gas conditions. The Density Functional Theory calculations reveal that pentagonal defects in the carbon skeleton act as preferential adsorption sites, with CO2 exhibiting stronger interaction energy (−21.83 kJ/mol) compared to N2 (−15.85 kJ/mol) and O2 (−15.39 kJ/mol). This study integrates experimental and molecular modeling approaches to develop efficient CO2 adsorbents, providing valuable insights into adsorption mechanisms and guiding the design of sustainable carbon capture materials for practical applications.

Keywords: Bio-based activated carbon; Dual physical activation; Adsorption carbon capture; Molecular simulation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544225021486
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:energy:v:328:y:2025:i:c:s0360544225021486

DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2025.136506

Access Statistics for this article

Energy is currently edited by Henrik Lund and Mark J. Kaiser

More articles in Energy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().