Carbon dioxide and methane adsorption at high pressure on activated carbon materials

Granular and monolith carbon materials were prepared from African palm shell by chemical activation with H3PO4, ZnCl2 and CaCl2 aqueous solutions of different concentrations. Adsorption capacity of carbon dioxide and methane were measured at 298 K and 4,500 kPa, and also of CO2 at 273 K and 100 kPa, in a volumetric adsorption equipment. Correlations between the textural properties of the materials and the adsorption capacity for both gases were obtained from the experimental data. The results obtained show that the adsorption capacity of CO2 and CH4 increases with surface area, total pore volume and micropore volume of the activated carbons. Maximum adsorption values were: 5.77 mmol CO2 g−1 at 273 K and 100 kPa, and 17.44 mmol CO2 g−1 and 7.61 mmol CH4 g−1 both at 298 K and 4,500 kPa.