Soft templating production of porous carbon adsorbents for CO2 and H2S capture

Abstract

We report the influence of structural features on the properties of porous carbonaceous materials obtained using soft-templating coupled with hydrothermal carbonisation. Our results demonstrate that using d-glucose with Pluronic P123 results in a more homogeneous particle size distribution of carbon spheres compared with d-fructose. The textural properties of the carbon materials, both surface area and pore volume, have improved when the carbonisation temperature was increased from 550 °C to 900 °C, while the amount of CC bonds was also increased. Physical activation with CO2 was found to open the pores and thereby improve textural properties, including total pore volume, micropore volume, and surface area. Concomitantly, the CO2 and H2S uptake also underwent significant enhancement, achieving a maximum CO2 adsorption capacity of 8.37 mmol/g at 0 °C and 1 bar, and ca. 6 mmol/g at room temperature and 1 bar. The same samples showed about 25.7 mmol/g adsorption capacity for H2S at room temperature and atmospheric pressure, with approximately 32% process efficiency.