Effect on mass transference phenomena by textural change inside monolithic carbon aerogels

Abstract

The effects on mass transference phenomena due textural changes of monolithic carbon aerogels were studied by hexane adsorption. The monolithic carbon aerogels were prepared after carbonization of the organic aerogels obtained by resorcinol–formaldehyde polymerization, using p-toluenesulfonic acid (acid-catalyst) and sodium carbonate catalysts (basic-catalyst). Internal texture was modified by CO2 activation. The characterization by gas adsorption showed that the monolithic carbon aerogels presents a bi-modal pore size distribution with presence of both microporous and mesoporous. It was shown that the activation process of monolithic carbon aerogels increases their micropore volume bigger than the other one acid-catalyst aerogel. The mesopores volume in the carbon aerogels plays an important role on mass transport mechanism. The samples with presence of significant mesopore volume present a lower height of mass transfer zone than others less mesopore volume; therefore better efficiency of adsorption in mass transfer zone in dynamic adsorption. The breakthrough curve methodology proposed in this work has allowed finding a relationship between the structural parameters and dynamic adsorption variables, which opens new approaches for measuring textural parameters of material.