Design and development of a volumetric apparatus for the measurement of methane uptakes under cryogenic conditions

We have designed, developed and fabricated a volumetric apparatus for the measurement of adsorption isotherms. The proposed design minimizes the sources of systematic errors, which are mainly due to the calibration of inner volume of the apparatus, and the stability and uniformity of temperatures and pressures. Using the volumetric instrument, the amount of methane on various MOFs is measured. These results are represented in terms of the equilibrium and dynamic characteristics of methane adsorption on three well known metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), namely MIL-101(cr), HKUST-1 and MOF-F300. The apparatus allows us to evaluate methane adsorbate uptakes for the temperatures varying from 125 K to 298 K and pressures up to 10 bar. The acquired results are in good agreement with the values reported in the literature. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.