Abstract
Polyacrylonitrile-based activated carbon fibers (ACFs), modified using potassium hydroxide (KOH) or tetraethylenepentamine (TEPA), were investigated for carbon dioxide (CO2) adsorption, which is one of the promising alleviation approaches for global warming. The CO2 adsorption isotherms were measured, and the values of isosteric heat of adsorption were calculated. The results showed that the KOH-modified ACFs exhibited a great deal of pore volume, and a specific surface area of 1565 m2/g was obtained. KOH activation made nitrogen atoms easily able to escape from the surface of ACFs. On the other hand, the surface area and pore volume of ACFs modified with TEPA were significantly reduced, which can be attributed to the closing or blocking of micropores by the N-groups. The CO2 adsorption on the ACF samples was via exothermic reactions and was a type of physical adsorption, where the CO2 adsorption occurred on heterogeneous surfaces. The CO2 uptakes at 1 atm and 25 °C on KOH-activated ACFs reached 2.74 mmole/g. This study observed that microporosity and surface oxygen functionalities were highly associated with the CO2 uptake, implying the existence of O-C coordination, accompanied with physical adsorption. Well cyclability of the adsorbents for CO2 adsorption was observed, with a performance decay of less than 5% over up to ten adsorption-desorption cycles.
Highlights
The increase in the atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2 ) level has been almost guaranteed as being responsible for global warming and climate change
The adsorption-desorption isotherms of N2 were acquired at −196 ◦ C to shed light on the effect of surface modifications on porous features of the adsorbents
The highest Vt and Vmi occurred for the aACF sample, reaching 0.7357 and 0.5028 cm3 /g
Summary
The increase in the atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2 ) level has been almost guaranteed as being responsible for global warming and climate change. In order to mitigate the increasing concentration of CO2 , several CO2 capture technologies have been widely studied. Adsorption techniques are effective processes to separate CO2 from exhaust. The affinity of the adsorbent surface to CO2 molecules determines the adsorption capacities of CO2 on the adsorbents. Several studies have shown that the CO2 adsorption performance arises from the synergetic effect of the micropores and the surface nitrogen functionalities [6,7]. The porosity of activated carbons was highly associated with the activation temperature, rather than the activation time [8]
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