CO2 adsorption on carbon molecular sieves

The effect of the textural properties of a series of commercial carbon molecular sieves (CMS), prepared from different polymeric precursors, on their ability for CO2 adsorption at different temperatures has been studied. The adsorbents have been characterized by N-2 and CO2 adsorption at 77 and 273 K, respectively, together with measurements of immersion calorimetry into liquids of different molecular dimensions. The studied CMSs cover a wide range of porosity, from purely microporous carbons to samples containing wide micropores as well as a certain proportion of mesoporosity. Studies of CO2 adsorption, at atmospheric pressure (1 bar) and three different temperatures (273, 298 and 323 K), have shown that a high CO2 adsorption capacity requires the presence of a well-developed microporosity, as well as a high volume of narrow micropores. On the other hand, narrow micropores seem to be the key factor leading to a maximum capacity of CO2 adsorption, even at temperatures close to that of anthropogenic emissions of CO2. (C) 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.