Effect of uncertainty in pore volumes on the uncertainty in amount adsorbed at high-pressures on activated carbon cloth

Activated carbon cloth (ACC) is a good adsorbent for high rate adsorption of volatile organic carbons [1] and as a storage media for methane [2]. It has been shown [2] that the capacity of ACC to adsorb methane, in the first instance, depends on its micropore volume. One way of increasing this storage capacity is to increase micropore volume [3]. Therefore, the uncertainty in the determination of ACC micropore volume becomes a very important factor, since it affects the uncertainty of amount adsorbed at high-pressures, which usually accompany storage of methane on ACC. Recently, we developed a method for the calculation of experimental uncertainty in micropore volume using low pressure nitrogen adsorption data at 77 K for FM1/250 ACC (ex. Calgon, USA). We tested several cubic equations of state (EOS) and multiple parameter (EOS) to determine the amount of high-pressure nitrogen adsorbed, and compared these data with amounts calculated via interpolated NIST density data. The amount adsorbed calculated from interpolated NIST density data exhibit the lowest propagated combined uncertainty. Values of relative combined standard uncertainty for FM1/250 calculated using a weighted, mean-least-squares method applied to the low-pressure nitrogen adsorption data (Fig. 1) gave 3.52% for the primary micropore volume and 1.63% for the total micropore volume. Our equipment allows the same sample to be exposed to nitrogen (and other gases) at pressures from 10-4 Pa to 17-MPa in the temperature range from 176 to 252 K. The maximum uptake of nitrogen was 356-mmol/g at 201.92 K and 15.8-MPa (Fig. 2). The delivery capacity of ACC is determined by the amount of adsorbed gas recovered when the pressure is reduced from that for maximum adsorption to 0.1-MPa [2]. In this regard, the total micropore volume becomes an important parameter in determining the amount of gas delivered during desorption. In the present paper we will discuss the effect of uncertainty in micropore volume determination on the adsorption capacity and the specific surface excess on FMI/250 ACC at high-pressures, assess the extent of hysteresis in the pore volume and size distribution as a result of low-high-low pressure cycling, and show the influence of chemisorbed oxygen on the amount adsorbed and the materials physical property values. [1] E. Dimotakis, M. P. Cal, J. Economy, M. J. Rood, S. Larson, Environmental Science and Technology, 29, 1876,1995. [2] D. Lozano-Castello, J. Alcaniz-Monge, M. A. de la Casa-Lillo, D. Cazorla-Amoros, A. Linares-Solano, Fuel, 81, 1777, 2 002. [3] Sh. Jiang, J. A. Zollweg, K. E. Gubbins, Journal of Physical Chemistry, 98, 5709,1994. (authors)