A review: methane capture by nanoporous carbon materials for automobiles

Global warming is considered one of the great challenges of the twenty-first century. In order to reduce the ever-increasing amount of methane (CH4) released into the atmosphere, and thus its impact on global climate change, CH4 storage technologies are attracting significant research interest. CH4 storage processes are attracting technological interest, and methane is being applied as an alternative fuel for vehicles. CH4 storage involves many technologies, among which, adsorption processes such as processes using porous adsorbents are regarded as an important green and economic technology. It is very important to develop highly efficient adsorbents to realize techno-economic systems for CH4 adsorption and storage. In this review, we summarize the nanomaterials being used for CH4 adsorption, which are divided into non-carbonaceous (e.g., zeolites, metal-organic frameworks, and porous polymers) and carbonaceous materials (e.g., activated carbons, ordered porous carbons, and activated carbon fibers), with a focus on recent research.