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How the activation process modifies the hydrogen storage behavior of biomass-derived activated carbons

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Abstract

Microporous activated carbons (ACs) derived from biomass residues, by virtue of their low-cost, good thermo-mechanical stability and easy adsorbent regeneration, are widely considered as hydrogen storage materials for near-term applications. The hydrogen uptake performance of activated carbons is known to depend on the pore-textural and surface characteristics, such as size and distribution of micropores and specific surface area. Here, we present a detailed investigation on how the activation processes using KOH, CO2, K2CO3, and H3PO4 modify the microstructure of olive stones-derived ACs and how they affect the ACs’ hydrogen storage behavior. The KOH-activation results in the formation of exfoliated graphene sheets, which are not common in lignocellulose-derived ACs. In addition, the KOH-activation forms supermicropores (1–2 nm) that enhance the hydrogen uptake capacity at high pressures (200 bar). The absolute hydrogen adsorption of KOH-activated sample at 200 bar and 77 K is 6.11 wt%, which is among the highest reported for activated carbon samples. The best hydrogen uptake density per surface area of the carbon we obtained is 2.1 × 10−3 wt% m−2 g which is very close to the theoretical maximum hydrogen uptake density on a single graphene sheet. CO2 and H3PO4 activations are more effective on the creation of ultramicropores (d ≤ 0.7 nm) in the carbon matrix. This order of pore size is useful when hydrogen adsorption is performed at sub-atmospheric pressures. Our study suggests that activated carbons with a homogenous pore size distribution centered at narrow range are not as efficient H2 adsorbents as the ACs with a bimodal PSD.

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge Dr. F. Reinoso-Rodriguez (University of Alicante, Spain), Dr. R. Chahine (IRH, Université du Québec à Trois Rivières, Canada), and Dr. M. Hirscher (Max Planck Inst. for Intelligent Systems, Stuttgart, Germany) for accepting the research internship of N. Bader. Special thanks go to the University of Gabes for funding the three internships.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Laboratory for Process Engineering and Industrials Systems, National School of Engineers of Gabes, University of Gabes, St. Omar Ibn Khattab, 6029, Gabès, Tunisia

    Najoua Bader & Ouederni Abdelmottaleb

  2. Gas Processing Center, College of Engineering, Qatar University, P.O. Box 2713, Doha, Qatar

    Renju Zacharia

  3. Institut de Recherché sur l’Hydrogène Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, P.O. Box 500, Trois-Rivières, Québec, G9A 5H7, Canada

    Daniel Cossement

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  1. Najoua Bader
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Correspondence to Renju Zacharia.

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Bader, N., Zacharia, R., Abdelmottaleb, O. et al. How the activation process modifies the hydrogen storage behavior of biomass-derived activated carbons. J Porous Mater 25, 221–234 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10934-017-0436-8

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