Gravimetric analysis of methane adsorption in activated carbon (Faulhaber) [abstract]

Abstract

ALL-CRAFT has an interest in using activated carbon to store high-capacities of natural gas at low pressures for use in natural gas vehicles. Activated carbon made from waste corncob, contains fractal pores that are favorable in the storing natural gas. To further investigate the storage capacity of carbon, an analysis was done on the equilibration times for a sample of carbon and several carbon samples were tested to determine the sample with the highest storage capacity. A sample of carbon was exposed to methane and several gravimetric measurements were taken at different equilibration times. I also tested the amount of methane adsorbed by several samples of carbon, taking gravimetric measurements. Results showed that 1 hour of methane uptake was the minimum equilibration time needed for reasonable amounts of methane to be adsorbed by the carbon. Future studies hope to test more samples of carbon to determine how the pore size distribution and activation process of different samples impact a sample's storage capacity.