Preparation and Characterization of Nitrogen-Containing Cellular Activated Carbon for CO2 and H2 Adsorption

New monolithic nitrogen-containing microporous cellular activated carbon was successfully prepared from phenol-urea-formaldehyde (PUF) organic foam for CO2 and H-2 adsorption and was characterized by thermogravimetric analysis (TG), scanning electron microscope (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), elemental analysis (EA), a mechanical testing machine, N-2-sorption and H-2/CO2 sorption. The carbon yield was approximately 50% for carbonization and the burn off for activation ranged from 40% to 56%, which linearly increased with activation time. The macroporosity corresponded to the connected network of cells with diameters ranging from 100 mu m to 600 mu m, and the pinholes in the cell walls had diameters ranging from 1 mu m to 2 mu m. The micro/mesoporosity is located at the inner surface of the cells. Thus, higher adsorption kinetics than usual from activated carbon are expected. The developed carbon with the highest SBET (1674m(2) / g) and highest VDR (0.86 cm(3) / g) contained 1.5% nitrogen, had a CO2 adsorption capacity of 3.53 mmol/g at 298 K, and had an H-2 adsorption capacity of 1.9 wt.% at 77 K, both at atmospheric pressure (1 bar), which were among the best in activated carbons from physical activation.