Optimization of structural and energy characteristics of adsorbents for methane storage

Using numerical and analytical methods, a model for microporous carbon adsorbents with slit-shaped pores of different widths was developed. Such pores are formed during activation procedure by the removal of the hexagonal carbon layers burnt out in a graphite-like crystallites. Dubinin’s theory of volume filling of micropores was used to calculate methane adsorption equilibria on these model adsorbents. Isobaric dependences of methane adsorption on pore width, specific micropore volumes, and the specific surface were plotted in the range of pressures from 1 to 10 MPa. It was found that the isobaric adsorption curves had a maximum the position of which depends on both the structural-energy characteristics of the adsorbent and thermodynamic conditions chosen to operate the adsorption system. As pressure increased, the maximum of adsorption shifts to the porous systems with wider pores and larger micropore volume.