Preparation and characterization of carbon molecular sieves from chestnut shell by chemical vapor deposition

Abstract

In this study, carbon molecular sieves (CMS) were produced from chestnut shell by chemical activation process followed by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) of methane. The influences of deposition temperature (800–900 °C), time (15–60 min) and flow rate of CH4 (100–300 mL/min) on pore development of carbon molecular sieve were investigated. The produced CMSs were characterized by several techniques such as N2 adsorption, CO2 adsorption, CH4 adsorption, elemental analysis, FTIR analysis and SEM analysis. The textural analysis of the CMS samples showed the successful deposition of methane on pores of the produced activated carbon derived from chestnut shell to yield a microporous CMS with a narrow pore size distribution. The deposition temperature, time and flow rate of CH4 were shown to strongly affect the pore structure of the CMS. The maximum CO2 adsorption capacity (525.7 mg/g) was obtained at a deposition temperature of 850 °C, time of 30 min, and CH4 flow rate of 100 mL/min.