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A review on application of activated carbons for carbon dioxide capture: present performance, preparation, and surface modification for further improvement

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Abstract

The atmosphere security and regulation of climate change are being continuously highlighted as a pressing issue. The crisis of climate change owing to the anthropogenic carbon dioxide emission has led many governments at federal and provincial levels to promulgate policies to address this concern. Among them is regulating the carbon dioxide emission from major industrial sources such as power plants, petrochemical industries, cement plants, and other industries that depend on the combustion of fossil fuels for energy to operate. In view of this, various CO2 capture and sequestration technologies have been investigated and presented. From this review, adsorption of CO2 on porous solid materials has been gaining increasing attention due to its cost-effectiveness, ease of application, and comparably low energy demand. Despite the myriad of advanced materials such as zeolites, carbons-based, metal-organic frameworks, mesoporous silicas, and polymers being researched, research on activated carbons (ACs) continue to be in the mainstream. Therefore, this review is endeavored to elucidate the adsorption properties of CO2 on activated carbons derived from different sources. Selective adsorption based on pore size/shape and surface chemistry is investigated. Accordingly, the effect of surface modifications of the ACs with NH3, amines, and metal oxides on adsorption performance toward CO2 is evaluated. The adsorption performance of the activated carbons under humid conditions is also reviewed. Finally, activated carbon-based composite has been surveyed and recommended as a feasible strategy to improve AC adsorption properties toward CO2.

Graphical abstract

The activated carbon surface in the graphical abstract is nitrogen rich modified using ammonia through thermal treatment. The values of CO2 emissions by sources are taken from (Yoro and Daramola 2020).

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References

Supporting reference

  • Yoro KO, Daramola MO (2020) CO2 emission sources, greenhouse gases, and the global warming effect. In: Advances in Carbon Capture. Elsevier, pp 3–28

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the support from the Universiti Sains Malaysia through the Research University grant (1001.PJKIMIA.8014115).

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Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Contributions

Ammar Ali Abd: conceptualization, investigation, methodology, writing—original draft.

Mohd Roslee Othman: investigation, validation, supervision, project administration, funding acquisition, review and editing.

Jinsoo Kim: visualization, validation, review and editing.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Ammar Ali Abd or Mohd Roslee Othman.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Responsible Editor: Tito Roberto Cadaval Jr

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Highlights

1. The preparation and applications of ACs in CO2 capture were overviewed.

2. Comparison among physically and chemically ACs.

3. Various surface modifications were reported and discussed.

4. AC-based composites materials were investigated and highlighted.

5.Comprehensive review about ACs performance in presence of moisture was exhibited.

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Abd, A.A., Othman, M.R. & Kim, J. A review on application of activated carbons for carbon dioxide capture: present performance, preparation, and surface modification for further improvement. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 43329–43364 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-15121-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-15121-9

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