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Adsorption of carbon dioxide and methane and their mixtures on an activated carbon: Simulation and experiment

Journal Article · · Langmuir
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/la9904298· OSTI ID:20006410
The aim of this work is to predict the adsorption of pure-component and binary mixtures of methane and carbon dioxide in a specific activated carbon, A35/4, using grand canonical Monte Carlo (GCMC) simulation. Methane is modeled as one-center Lennard-Jones (LJ) fluid and carbon dioxide as a two-center LJ plus point quadrupole fluids. Experimental adsorption data for the system have been obtained with a new flow desorption apparatus. The pore size distribution (PSD) for the carbon was determined from both of the experimental CH{sub 4} and CO{sub 2} isotherms at 293 K. To extract numerically the PSD, GCMC-simulated isotherms for both pure components in slit-shaped pores ranging from 5.7 to 72.2 {angstrom} were used. Using only pure experimental CO{sub 2} isotherm data, it was not possible to determine a PSD that allowed a reasonable prediction of the pure methane adsorption. However, with both experimental data sets for the pure components, it was possible to derive a PSD that allowed both experimental pure-component isotherms to be fitted. With this PSD and the simulated adsorption densities in single pores, it was possible to predict in good agreement with experiment (1) the adsorption of binary mixtures of CO{sub 2} and CH{sub 4} and (2) the adsorption of both pure components at higher temperatures. However, the model was unable to reproduce precisely the experimental pressure dependence of the CO{sub 2} selectivity.
Research Organization:
Univ. of Edinburgh (GB)
OSTI ID:
20006410
Journal Information:
Langmuir, Journal Name: Langmuir Journal Issue: 25 Vol. 15; ISSN LANGD5; ISSN 0743-7463
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English