Microporous carbon adsorbents with high CO₂ capacities for industrial applications

In this study we attempt to investigate the potential use of two zeolite template carbon (ZTC), EMT-ZTC and FAU-ZTC, to capture CO₂ at room temperature. We report their high pressure CO₂ adsorption isotherms (273 K) that show for FAU-ZTC the highest carbon capture capacity among published carbonaceous materials and competitive data with the best organic and inorganic adsorbing frameworks ever-known (zeolites and mesoporous silicas, COFs and MOFs). The importance of these results is discussed in light of mitigation of CO₂ emissions. In addition to these new experimental CO₂ adsorption data, we also present new insight into the adsorption process of the two structures by Monte Carlo simulations: we propose that two separate effects are responsible for the apparent similarity of the adsorption behaviour of the two structures: (i) pore blocking occurring on EMT-ZTC, and (ii) the change of the carbon polarizability due to the extreme curvature of FAU-ZTC.