Porosity of closed carbon nanotubes compressed using hydraulic pressure

Experimental data of nitrogen adsorption (T = 77.3 K) from gaseous phase measured on commercial closed carbon nanotubes are presented. Additionally, we show the results of N₂ adsorption on compressed (using hydraulic press) CNTs. In order to explain the experimental observations the results of GCMC simulations of N₂ adsorption on isolated or bundled multi-walled closed nanotubes (four models of bundles) are discussed. We show that the changes of the experimental adsorption isotherms are related to the compression of the investigated adsorbents. They are qualitatively similar to the theoretical observations. Taking into account all results it is concluded that in the “architecture” of nanotubes very important role has been played by isolated nanotubes.     

Influence of CO2 activation on hydrogen storage behaviors of platinum-loaded activated carbon nanotubes

In this work, platinum (Pt) metal loaded activated multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) were prepared with different structural characteristics for hydrogen storage applications. The process was conducted by a gas phase CO₂ activation method at 1200 °C as a function of the CO₂ flow time. Pt-loaded activated MWNTs were also formulated to investigate the hydrogen storage characteristics. The microstructures of the Pt-loaded activated MWNTs were characterized by XRD and TEM measurements. The textural properties of the samples were analyzed using N₂ adsorption isotherms at 77 K. The BET, D-R, and BJH equations were used to observe the specific surface areas and the micropore and mesopore structures. The hydrogen storage capacity of the Pt-loaded activated MWNTs was measured at 298 K at a pressure of 100 bar. The hydrogen storage capacity was increased with CO₂ flow time. It was found that the micropore volume of the activated MWNTs plays a key role in the hydrogen storage capacity.     

Removal of UO2 2+ from aqueous solution by plasma functionalized MWCNTs

The study was undertaken to evaluate the feasibility of functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) for the removal of UO₂ ²⁺ from aqueous solutions. The MWCNTs was treated by oxygen plasma and characterized by FTIR and XPS. The characterization indicates that MWCNTs is successfully functionalized of oxygen groups such as –COOH on its surface (denote as P-MWCNTs). The sorption of UO₂ ²⁺ from aqueous solution on P-MWCNTs was studied as a function of contact time, solid contents, pH, ionic strength and temperature under ambient conditions using batch experiment. Two simplified kinetic models of pseudo-first-order and pseudo-second-order were tested to determine kinetic parameters such as rate constants, equilibrium sorption capacities and related correlation coefficients for kinetic models of the sorption process. It can be seen that the UO₂ ²⁺ sorption on P-MWCNTs could be described more favorably by the pseudo-second-order model. The thermodynamic parameters (?G°, ?S°, ?H°) calculated from the temperature-dependent sorption isotherms indicated that the sorption of UO₂ ²⁺ on P-MWCNTs were an endothermic and spontaneous processes. The results of the present study suggest that P-MWCNTs can be used beneficially in treating industrial effluents containing radioactive and heavy metal ions.     

Amine-functionalized mesoporous ZSM-5 zeolite adsorbents for carbon dioxide capture

ZSM-5 type zeolite with mesoporous structure was prepared and then amine-functionalized with tetraethylenepentamine (TEPA) by wet impregnation method to form a series of CO₂ adsorbents (ZTx). The structural properties of ZSM-5 and ZTx were characterized by XRD, FTIR, TGA/DTG, nitrogen adsorption/desorption, SEM and EDX techniques. The adsorption capacity of the adsorbents with different amine loading was measured at a temperature from 40 to 100 °C and the adsorption capacity of ZT7 was 1.80 mmol/g at 100 °C. The adsorption process and mechanism were studied by fitting the experimental data used the three adsorption kinetic models, and a complex physical and chemical mixing process was produced as the amine entered the surface and pore size of the zeolite. The high adsorption selectivity at 10% CO₂ concentration and the stability of the five adsorption desorption cycles indicated that ZT7 is a suitable and promising CO₂ adsorbent for the purification of industrial flue gas.     

Decoration of MWCNTs with CoFe2O4 Nanoparticles for Methylene Blue Dye Adsorption

In the present work, a simple and viable method for producing multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) decorated with CoFe₂O₄ nanoparticles is presented. Chemical composition and crystal structure of the CoFe₂O₄/MWCNT composite was confirmed by X-ray diffraction measurements, while transmission electron microscopy was used to characterize the morphology and the distribution of nanocrystals in the composite. The obtained particles with relatively small diameter (about 14.9?nm) were found to be dispersed on the carbon nanotubes. The adsorption of methylene blue dye on CoFe₂O₄/MWCNT composites has been investigated. CoFe₂O₄/MWCNT composites show high adsorption capacity for methylene blue dye. Both Langmuir and Freundlich models describe the adsorption isotherms very well and the adsorption thermodynamic parameters (?G ⁰, ?H ⁰ and ?S ⁰) were calculated. The adsorption of methylene blue is generally spontaneous and thermodynamically favorable. The adsorption of methylene blue involves an endothermic process.     

Amino-functionalized pore-expanded SBA-15 for CO2 adsorption

The adsorption of CO₂ on pore-expanded SBA-15 mesostructured silica functionalized with amino groups was studied. The synthesis of conventional SBA-15 was modified to obtain pore-expanded materials, with pore diameters from 11 to 15 nm. Post-synthesis functionalization treatments were carried out by grafting with diethylenetriamine (DT) and by impregnation with tetraethylenepentamine (TEPA) and polyethyleneimine (PEI). The adsorbents were characterized by X-ray diffraction, N₂ adsorption–desorption at 77 K, elemental analysis and Transmission Electron Microscopy. CO₂ capture was studied by using a volumetric adsorption technique at 45 °C. Consecutive adsorption–desorption experiments were also conducted to check the cyclic behaviour of adsorbents in CO₂ capture. An improvement in CO₂ adsorption capacity and efficiency of amino groups was found for pore-expanded SBA-15 impregnated materials in comparison with their counterparts prepared from conventional SBA-15 with smaller pore size. PEI and TEPA-based adsorbents reached significant CO₂ uptakes at 45 °C and 1 bar (138 and 164 mg CO₂/g, respectively), with high amine efficiencies (0.33 and 0.37 mol CO₂/mol N), due to the positive effect of the larger pore diameter in the diffusion and accessibility of organic groups. Pore-expanded SBA-15 samples grafted with DT and impregnated with PEI showed a good stability after several adsorption–desorption cycles of pure CO₂. PEI-impregnated adsorbent was tested in a fixed bed reactor with a diluted gas mixture containing 15 % CO₂, 5 % O₂, 80 % Ar and water (45 °C, 1 bar). A noteworthy adsorption capacity of 171 mg CO₂/g was obtained in these conditions, which simulate flue gas after the desulphurization step in a thermal power plant.     

Application of thermogravimetric analysis to the evaluation of aminated solid sorbents for CO<Subscript>2</Subscript> capture

In this work a series of solid sorbents were synthesized by immobilizing liquid amines on the surface of a mesoporous alumina. The samples were chemically characterized and BET surface areas calculated from the N₂ adsorption isotherms at 77 K. The CO₂ capture performance of the sorbents and their thermal stability was studied by thermogravimetric methods. The effect of amine loading on the CO₂ capture performance of the prepared sorbents was also evaluated. Analysis of TG-DTG curves showed that thermal stabilization of the amines is significantly improved by immobilizing them on an inorganic support. Temperature-programmed CO₂ adsorption tests from 298 K up to 373 K at atmospheric pressure, proved to be a useful technique for assessing the capacity of sorbents for CO₂ capture. Alumina impregnated with diethylenetriamine presented the highest CO₂ adsorption capacities throughout the tested temperature range.     

Effect of amine double-functionalization on CO<Subscript>2</Subscript> adsorption behaviors of silica gel-supported adsorbents

Amine double-functionalized adsorbents were fabricated using silica gel as supports and their capabilities for CO₂ capture were examined. Aminopropyltrimethoxysilane (1N-APS), and N¹-(3-trimethoxysilylpropyl)diethylenetriamine (3N-APS) were used as grafted amine compounds, and tetraethylenepentamine and polyethyleneimine were used as impregnated species. The influence of double-functionalization method on the CO₂ adsorption performance and textural properties of adsorbents was investigated. The adsorption capacity, the amine efficiency, and the thermal stability of double-functionalized sorbents depend strongly upon molecular variables associated with two different functional states (i.e., chemically grafted and physically impregnated amines). The temperature dependence of adsorption isotherms reveals that the CO₂ adsorption behavior in the double-functionalized adsorbents follow the diffusion limitation model proposed by Xu et al. (Energy Fuels 16:1463–1469, 2002) where the CO₂ adsorption is helped by the diffusion of impregnated amines. It is also found that the adsorption isotherm in the double-functionalized sorbent system with a proper choice for grafted and impregnated amines is nearly independent of temperature, which may offer a novel means to fabricate practically useful sorbents that can be used in a wide range of temperature without loss of CO₂ adsorption capacity.     

Remarkable carbon dioxide catalytic capture (CDCC) leading to solid-form carbon material via a new CVD integrated process (CVD-IP): An alternative route for CO2 sequestration

Through our newly-developed “chemical vapor deposition integrated process (CVD-IP)” using carbon dioxide (CO₂) as the raw material and only carbon source introduced, CO₂ could be catalytically activated and converted to a new solid-form product, i.e., carbon nanotubes (CO₂-derived) at a quite high yield (the single-pass carbon yield in the solid-form carbon-product produced from CO₂ catalytic capture and conversion was more than 30% at a single-pass carbon-base). For comparison, when only pure carbon dioxide was introduced using the conventional CVD method without integrated process, no solid-form carbon-material product could be formed. In the addition of saturated steam at room temperature in the feed for CVD, there were much more end-opening carbon nano-tubes produced, at a slightly higher carbon yield. These inspiring works opened a remarkable and alternative new approach for carbon dioxide catalytic capture to solid-form product, comparing with that of CO₂ sequestration (CCS) or CO₂ mineralization (solidification), etc. As a result, there was much less body volume and almost no greenhouse effect for this solid-form carbon-material than those of primitive carbon dioxide.     

Adsorption of CO2 on nitrogen-enriched activated carbon and zeolite 13X

Adsorption may be a potentially attractive alternative to capturing CO₂ from stationary sources in the context of Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS) technologies. Activated carbon and zeolites are state-of-art adsorbents which may be used for CO₂ adsorption, however physisorption alone tends to be insignificant at high temperatures. In the present work, commercial adsorbents have been impregnated with monoethanolamine (MEA) and triethanolamine (TEA) in order to investigate the effect of the modified surface chemistry on CO₂ adsorption, especially above room temperature. Adsorption isotherms for CO₂, N₂ and CH₄ were measured in a gravimetrically system in the pressure range of UHV to 10 bar, at 298 and 348 K for activated carbon and zeolite 13X supports. The adsorbed concentration of CO₂ was significantly higher than those of CH₄ and N₂ for both adsorbents in the whole pressure range studied, zeolite 13X showing a remarkable affinity for CO₂ at very low pressures. However, at 348 K, the adsorbed concentration of CO₂ decreases significantly. The supports impregnated with concentrated amine solutions and dried in air suffered a detrimental effect on the textural properties, although CO₂ uptake became much less susceptible to temperature increase. Impregnations carried out with dilute solution followed by drying in inert atmosphere yielded materials with very similar textural characteristics as compared to the parent support. CO₂ isotherms in such materials showed a significant change with similar capacities at 348 K as compared to the original support at 298 K in the case of activated carbons. The impregnated zeolite showed a decrease in adsorbed phase concentration in low pressures for a given temperature, but the adsorbed amount also seemed to be less affected by temperature. These results are promising and indicate that CO₂ adsorption may be enhanced despite high process temperatures (e.g. 348 K), if convenient impregnation and drying methods are applied.     

Highly efficient CO2 capture with a metal–organic framework‐derived porous carbon impregnated with polyethyleneimine

Global warming is considered as one of the great challenges of the twenty‐first century. Application of CO₂ capture and storage technologies to flue gas is considered to be a useful method of lessening global warning. Highly porous carbon has played an important role in tackling energy and environmental problems. We attempted to synthesize a highly porous carbon adsorbent by carbonizing a highly crystalline metal–organic framework (MOF) without any carbon precursors and focused on the adsorption of CO₂ and CH₄ gases and CO₂/CH₄ selectivity at 298, 323 and 348 K using a volumetric apparatus. The MOF‐derived porous carbon (MDC) was prepared by direct carbonization of MOF‐199 as a template at 900 °C under nitrogen atmosphere. Amino‐impregnated MDC samples exhibited enhanced adsorption capacities by a combination of physical and chemical adsorption. Polyethyleneimine (PEI) was selected as the amine source, which was found to greatly enhance CO₂ capture when supported on the porous carbon. Novel PEI‐impregnated MDC nanocomposites were synthesized by wetness impregnation and then characterized using various methods.     

四乙烯五胺修饰介孔硅胶吸附CO2性能的研究

采用浸渍法将四乙烯五胺(TEPA)负载到介孔硅胶(SG)上,制备了一系列胺功能化的CO₂吸附材料(TEPA-SG).利用傅里叶变换红外光谱(FT-IR)、热重分析(TGA)和N₂吸脱附等分析方法对样品进行了表征,并在固定床反应器中考察了TEPA负载量、吸附温度对CO₂吸附性能的影响,同时通过添加不同质量分数的聚乙二醇(PEG)考察了羟基对吸附性能及再生性能的促进作用.结果表明,当TEPA负载量为40%(质量分数)、吸附温度为70 ℃时,TEPA-SG的吸附量高达2.21 mmol/g;PEG的加入改变了氨基与CO₂的相互作用机理,当TEPA与PEG的质量比为3:1,总负载量为40%时,CO₂的吸附量为2.70 mmol/g,且经过10次吸脱附循环实验后,CO₂吸附量仍保持在2.66 mmol/g,表现出较好的循环稳定性.Clausius-Clapeyron方程计算得该过程的等量吸附热为30~40 kJ/mol,且随吸附量的增大等量吸附热逐渐减小,表明TEPA30/PEG10-SG吸附剂表面存在能量不均匀性.     

In situ ethylene copolymerization with an olefin-type monomer for one-pot synthesis of polyethylene tethered on multi-walled carbon nanotubes

A one-pot procedure for the synthesis of polyethylene tethered on multi-walled carbon nanotubes by in situ ethylene copolymerization with an olefin-type comonomer, α-alkene functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MW - CH = CH₂) is reported. The covalent linkage between polyethylene and multi-walled carbon nanotubes is demonstrated. The MWCNTs are chemically oxidized first by a strong oxidizing agent and then functionalized with chlorocarbonyl groups (MW-COCl) via reacting with thionyl chloride. The MW-CH=CH₂ are obtained by esterification of ω-undecylenyl alcohol with MW-COCl. The MW-CH=CH₂ may serve as olefin-type comonomers to further synthesize core-shell structured copolymers with a multi-walled carbon nanotubes core grafted with side chains of polyethylene via rac-(en)(THInd)₂ZrCl₂ copolymerization catalyst. The core-shell structured nanocomposites were characterized by means of ¹H-NMR, SEM, FTIR and TGA. The results confirmed the formation of polyethylene chains growing from the surface of multi-walled carbon nanotubes.     

Single-walled carbon nanotubes as stationary phase in gas chromatographic separation and determination of argon, carbon dioxide and hydrogen

A chromatographic technique is introduced based on single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) as stationary phase for separation of Ar, CO₂ and H₂ at parts per million (ppm) levels. The efficiency of SWCNTs was compared with solid materials such as molecular sieve, charcoal, multi-walled carbon nanotubes and carbon nanofibers. The morphology of SWCNTs was optimized for maximum adsorption of H₂, CO₂ and Ar and minimum adsorption of gases such as N₂, O₂, CO and H₂O vapour. To control temperature of the gas chromatography column, peltier cooler was used. Mixtures of Ar, CO₂ and H₂ were separated according to column temperature program. Relative standard deviation for nine replicate analyses of 0.2 mL H₂ containing 10 μL of each Ar or CO₂ was 2.5% for Ar, 2.8% for CO₂ and 3.6% for H₂. The interfering effects of CO, and O₂ were investigated. Working ranges were evaluated as 40-600 ppm for Ar, 30-850 ppm for CO₂ and 10-1200 ppm for H₂. Significant sensitivity, small relative standard deviation (RSD) and acceptable limit of detection (LOD) were obtained for each analyte, showing capability of SWCNTs for gas separation and determination processes. Finally, the method was used to evaluate the contents of CO₂ in air sample.     

Effect of CO2 adsorbents on the Ni-based dual-function materials for CO2 capturing and in situ methanation

The present work studied the effect of different carbon dioxide (CO₂) adsorbents on Ni-based dual-function materials (DFMs) for the development of carbon capture and on-site utilization in a reactor at isothermal condition. The DFMs containing Ni functioning as a methanation catalyst with various CO₂ adsorbents (i.e., CaO, MgO, K₂CO₃, or Na₂CO₃) were prepared on γ-Al₂O₃ through sequential impregnation. The result indicated that Ni-Na₂CO₃/γ-Al₂O₃ had the highest methanation capacity (i.e., 0.1783 mmol/g) and efficiency (i.e., 71.09%) in the CO₂ adsorption–methanation test. The CO₂ uptake and the subsequent methanation capacity of the Ni-Na₂CO₃/γ-Al₂O₃ increased to more than 24 times and more than 17 times, respectively, compared to Ni/γ-Al₂O₃. The high methanation capacity was correlated to its highest amount of weak basic sites, substantial CO₂ capture capacity and capture/release efficiency, and reactivity to H₂ at a lower temperature, supported by CO₂-TPD, TGA analyses for adsorption or adsorption–desorption at the isothermal condition, and H₂-TPRea, respectively. A continuous cyclic CO₂ adsorption–methanation was performed by using the Ni-Na₂CO₃/γ-Al₂O₃ and Ni-CaO/γ-Al₂O₃, showing that the CO₂ adsorption capacity was stabilized from third cycle onward, whereas the methanation capacity was stabilized at all cycles, indicating the high stability of the DFMs for both CO₂ adsorption and subsequent methanation. This work demonstrated successful synthesis of the Ni-based, low-cost, and stable DFMs with the ability to produce methane via the direct capture of CO₂.     

Sorption behavior of acidic herbicides on carbon nanotubes

Carbon nanotubes and graphitized carbon are investigated as adsorbents for solid phase extraction of dicamba and 2,4,5-T, two phenoxyalkanoic acid herbicides. These adsorbents have much greater adsorption capability than that of C₁₈ bonded silica, which was also tested for comparison studies. The adsorption capacity increases remarkably at lower pH of the sample solution. Freundlich isotherms were applied to analyze the data. Our studies suggest that carbon nanotubes have great potential applications in environmental analysis.     

Pure and binary adsorption of CO2, H2, and N2 on activated carbon

A new developing field of application for pressure swing adsorption (PSA) processes is the capture of CO₂ to mitigate climate change, especially the separation of CO₂ and H₂ in a pre-combustion context. In this process scheme the conditions of the feed to the separation step, namely a pressure of 3.5 to 4.5 MPa and a CO₂ fraction of around 40% are favorable for an adsorption based separation process and make PSA a promising technology. Among the commercial adsorbent materials, activated carbon is most suitable for this application. To evaluate the potential, to benchmark new materials, and for process development a sound basis of the activated carbon thermodynamic data is required, namely equilibrium adsorption isotherms of the relevant pure components and mixtures, Henry’s constants and isosteric heats.     

Preparation and characterization of waste ion-exchange resin-based activated carbon for CO<Subscript>2</Subscript> capture

Waste ion-exchange resin was utilized as precursor to produce activated carbon by KOH chemical activation, on which the effects of different activation temperatures, activation times and impregnation ratios were studied in this paper. The CO₂ adsorption of the produced activated carbon was tested by TGA at 30 °C and environment pressure. Furthermore, the effects of preparation parameters on CO₂ adsorption were investigated. Experimental results show that the produced activated carbons are microporous carbons, which are suitable for CO₂ adsorption. The CO₂ adsorption capacity increases firstly and then decreases with the increase of activation temperature, activation time and impregnation rate. The maximum adsorption capacity is 81.24 mg/g under the condition of 30 °C and pure CO₂. The results also suggest that waste ion-exchange resin-based activated carbons possess great potential as adsorbents for post-combustion CO₂ capture.     

CO2 adsorption on zeolite X/activated carbon composites

Two series of zeolite X/activated carbon composites with different ratios of zeolite and activated carbon were prepared through a combination process of CO₂ activation of the mixtures of elutrilithe and pitch and subsequent hydrothermal crystallization in alkaline solution. An additional surface modification was achieved in diluted NH₄Cl solution. CO₂ and N₂ uptakes on the composites before and after modification were determined for pressures up to 101?kPa at 273 and 298?K, respectively. Langmuir-Freundlich and Toth adsorption models were used to describe the adsorption isotherms of CO₂ and the corresponding heats of adsorption were estimated with the Clausius-Clapeyron equation. Both before and after modification, all composites exhibited a remarkable preferential adsorption of CO₂ compared to N₂, with the modified composites showing a higher adsorption selectivity to CO₂ over N₂ than the unmodified composites. With an increasing ratio of zeolite in the composites, adsorption capacity and adsorption heat of CO₂ on the composites increased simultaneously. Lower adsorption heat was observed both before and after modification especially at the low-loading region and when there was less energetic heterogeneity on the surface of the modified composites. The results may be attributed to the elimination of strong basic sites on the modified composites, which is favorable for desorption of CO₂ on the adsorbents and application in pressure swing adsorption processes.     

源自密胺基多孔聚合物的富氮微孔炭及选择性吸附CO_2

以间苯二甲醛和三聚氰胺为原料,通过Schiff碱缩合反应合成了密胺基多孔聚合物(POP),经高温炭化后得到富氮微孔炭(NMC).利用N2吸脱附和傅里叶变换红外(FTIR)光谱表征了POP和炭化后产物NMC的结构和组成,与POP相比,NMC的官能团数量减少,比表面积和微孔孔容大幅增加.元素分析表明NMC含氮量高达12.5%(w).采用体积法测定了CO2、CH4和N2在NMC上的单组分吸附平衡等温线,NMC展示出良好的CO2吸附性能,298 K、100 kPa下CO2平衡吸附量可达2.34 mmol·g-1.双位Langmuir(DSL)模型和单位Langmuir(SSL)模型分别较好地描述了CO2、CH4和N2在NMC上的吸附平衡数据,在此基础上,应用理想吸附溶液理论(IAST)预测了双组分混合气在NMC上的吸附等温线,结果表明NMC对CO2-N2和CO2-CH4有非常高的CO2吸附选择性,分别为144.9和12.8.