Adsorption of mesoporous carbon modified with triethylenetetramine as a function of carbon dioxide flow time

Abstract

We synthesize mesoporous carbon by using the soft-templated method with pluronic F-127 as a structure-directing agent, and phloroglucinol and formaldehyde as carbon precursors. The as-synthesized mesoporous carbon was characterized by using x-ray diffraction, Brunauer, Emmett and Teller (BET), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDX), and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. The as-synthesized mesoporous carbon was activated by using 1M HCl to increase the triethylenetetramine (TETA) as amine group compound loading within mesoporous carbon. Mesoporous carbon and activated mesoporous carbon was modified by using TETA with concentration variations less than 50 wt%. The modified mesoporous carbon was also characterized by using SEM-EDX and FTIR. Adsorption tests were done by using adsorbent mesoporous carbon, activated mesoporous carbon, mesoporous carbon modified by TETA, and activated mesoporous carbon modified by TETA with CO2 gas flow times of 5, l0, 15, 20, 25, and 30 min, a contact time of 15 min, and a flow rate of 20 mL/min. The adsorbed CO2 gas was quantified by using the acid-base titration method. On the basis of the CO2, adsorption test, the acid activation was successfully increased by TETA loading within mesoporous carbon, which increases the ability of the material to adsorb CO2.