Carbon dioxide and methane adsorption behaviour of zeolite/biomass-based activated carbon and zeolite/multiwalled carbon nanotube composites

ABSTRACT

In the present study, it was aimed to develop novel-activated carbon/zeolite and carbon nanotube/zeolite composites for CO₂ and CH₄ adsorption. The study consists of two parts; in the first part of the study, activated carbon has been obtained from elaeagnus stones and zeolite/activated carbon composites have been prepared from the activated carbon and commercial zeolite with the use of K₂CO₃ at different temperatures. In order to make comparisons, zeolite/multiwalled carbon nanotube composites have been prepared by using commercial-multiwalled carbon nanotube by the same method. All the composites have been characterised by N₂ adsorption – desorption, Barrett-Joyner-Halenda (BJH) desorption pore size distributions and SEM-EDX techniques. In the second part of the study, CO₂ and CH₄ adsorption processes have been performed for obtained composites at room temperature and 760 mmHg pressure. The relationship between CO₂ and CH₄ adsorption capacities, Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface areas and pore volumes of zeolite/activated carbon and zeolite/multiwalled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) composites have been investigated. Freundlich, Langmuir, BET, Temkin, Dubinin–Radushkevich (DR) and Harkins – Jura (HJ) isotherms have been plotted and the isotherm parameters have been calculated. It was observed that the CO₂ and CH₄ adsorption capacities of the zeolite/activated carbon composites are higher than the adsorption capacities of both zeolite and activated carbon. It was also observed that the zeolite/MWCNT composite ZN700 showed higher CO₂ and CH₄ adsorption capacity than both zeolite and nanotube. Results showed that the zeolite/activated carbon and zeolite/multiwalled carbon nanotube composites which were obtained with the use of K₂CO₃ are promising adsorbents for CO₂ and CH₄ adsorption for industrial use.

KEYWORDS:

• CO₂adsorption
• CH₄adsorption
• isotherm parameters
• zeolite
• activated carbon
• composite

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported financially by Kocaeli University, Turkey [Kocaeli University Scientific Research Project 2019/011 HD].