Production of carbon molecular sieves from palm shell through carbon deposition from methane

Abstract

The possibility of production of carbon molecular sieve (CMS) from palm shell as a waste lignocellulosic biomass was investigated. CMS samples were prepared through heat treatment processes including carbonization, physiochemical activation and chemical vapor deposition (CVD) from methane. Methane was pyrolyzed to deposit fine carbon on the pore mouth of palm shell-based activated carbon to yield CMS. All the deposition experiments were performed at 800 ?C, while the methane flow rate (100, 200, 300 mL min-1 CH4 diluted in 500 mL min-1 N2) and deposition time (30 to 60 min) were the investigated parameters. The textural characteristics of the CMSs were assessed by N2 adsorption. The largest BET surface area (752 m2 g-1), micropore surface area (902.2 m2 g-1) and micropore volume (0.3466 cm3 g-1) was obtained at the CH4 flow rate of 200 mL min-1 and deposition time of 30 min. However, prolonging the deposition time to 45 min yielded in a micropouros CMS with a narrow pore size distribution.