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Assessing the potential of nanoporous carbon adsorbents from polyethylene terephthalate (PET) to separate CO2 from flue gas

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Abstract

A series of nanoporous carbons was obtained by physical activation of polyethylene terephthalate and investigated for the separation of CO2 from flue gas. The prepared carbons exhibited extremely low functionalization—negligible content in oxygen and other heteroatoms—accompanied by well-developed porous networks consisting of gradually increasing surface areas and micropore volumes. Such features allowed to study the role of nanopore confinement in the separation of carbon dioxide in CO2/N2 gas mixtures. The analysis of the adsorption isotherms of individual gases and their mixtures revealed different trends for the CO2 uptake and the selectivity. Whereas CO2 uptake was larger in the carbons with higher burn-off degree, the selectivity of CO2 over N2 was favored in the carbons with a higher fraction of narrow micropores. The differential adsorption enthalpy curves are typical of highly microporous samples reaching values close to those found in zeolites for low loadings. Data also show that the choice of the best adsorbent for cyclic gas adsorption and separation processes should consider a broad context, taking into account various parameters simultaneously such as gas selectivity, working capacity, adsorption enthalpy and energy consumption in the synthesis of the adsorbent.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank of financial support of Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior – CAPES, Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras and Agencia Estatal CSIC (Grant i-link1044). The support of Universidade de Campinas – UNICAMP in the characterization the adsorbents is also greatly appreciated.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Grupo de Pesquisa em Separações por Adsorção, Chemical Engineering Department, Universidade Federal do Ceará, Fortaleza, Brazil

    P. A. S. Moura, E. Vilarrasa-Garcia, D. A. S. Maia, M. Bastos-Neto & D. C. S. Azevedo

  2. Instituto Nacional Del Carbón, CSIC, P.O. Box 73, 33080, Oviedo, Spain

    C. O. Ania & J. B. Parra

  3. CEMHTI CNRS UPR 3079, Université Orleáns, 45071, Orleans, France

    C. O. Ania

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  1. P. A. S. Moura
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  2. E. Vilarrasa-Garcia
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  3. D. A. S. Maia
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  4. M. Bastos-Neto
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  5. C. O. Ania
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  6. J. B. Parra
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  7. D. C. S. Azevedo
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Correspondence to D. C. S. Azevedo.

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Moura, P.A.S., Vilarrasa-Garcia, E., Maia, D.A.S. et al. Assessing the potential of nanoporous carbon adsorbents from polyethylene terephthalate (PET) to separate CO2 from flue gas. Adsorption 24, 279–291 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10450-018-9943-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10450-018-9943-4

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