Porous silicon carbide/carbon composite microspherules for methane storage

Porous silicon carbide/carbon (SiC/C) microspherules were prepared by the controlled heating treatment of polymer and silica hybrid precursors over 1000 degrees C in Ar/H-2 stream. The resultant SiC/C composite shows improved physical properties such as excellent mechanical strength, regular physical form, and high packing density. Such improvement overcomes the main inherent problems encountered when using activated carbons as absorbents without sacrificing porosity properties. N-2 sorption analysis shows that the SiC/C composite has a BET surface area of 1793 m(2)/g and a pore volume of 0.92 ml/g. Methane adsorption isotherm is determined by the conventional volumetric method at 25 degrees C and up to 7.0 MPa. On volumetric basis, the SiC/C composite microspherules show methane storage of 145 (V/V) at 3.5 MPa and 25 degrees C. The combination of excellent physical properties and porosity properties in this SiC/C composite lends a great possibility to develop a competitive storage system for natural gas.