Porous Carbon Materials: Maximizing CO2 Sorption Capacity at Low Pressures

The aim of this project is to understand the relationship between the pore structure and CO2 capacity and selectivity for new carbon materials prepared from petroleum coke and other precursors. The pore structure is characterized with BET and other methods. The CO2 sorption is characterized with a magnetic suspension balance. It turns out that only certain pores contribute to the low-pressure sorption capacity, which makes the total surface area and total pore volume a poor performance predictor. The practical challenge is how to design the material preparation procedure, for example, the activation temperature, rates and media, to maximize the material performance.