Nitrogen enriched porous carbons from d-glucose with excellent CO2 capture performance

• Published in: Chemical engineering journal (Lausanne, Switzerland : 1996) Switzerland : 1996), 2019-04, Vol.362, p.794-801
• Main Authors: Rao, Linli, Ma, Rui, Liu, Shenfang, Wang, Linlin, Wu, Zhenzhen, Yang, Jie, Hu, Xin
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Biomass; Co-hydrothermal treatment; CO2 capture; N-doped porous carbon
• ISSN: 1385-8947; 1873-3212
• DOI: 10.1016/j.cej.2019.01.093

[Display omitted] •N-enriched hydrochar was obtained by single-step co-hydrothermal treatment of d-glucose and urea.•Porous carbons with high nitrogen content ranging from 6.20 to 12.17 wt% were synthesized by KOH activation.•d-Glucose derived carbon exhibits high CO2 uptake, 6.70 mmol/g at 0 °C and 1 bar.•N-doped porous carbons adsorbed CO2 rapidly and had excellent cyclability.•Nitrogen content and volume of narrow micropore are key factors in deciding CO2 uptake. In this study, nitrogen-enriched porous carbonaceous sorbents were successfully prepared by co-hydrothermal treatment of d-glucose and urea, followed by KOH activation under different conditions. Using this new synthesis strategy, the as-prepared adsorbents show a high nitrogen content ranging from 6.20 to 12.17 wt%. In addition, these sorbents also have highly developed porous texture including high narrow microporosity. The optimal sample exhibits the high CO2 uptake of 4.26 and 6.70 mmol/g at 25 and 0 °C, respectively, at 1 bar. Additional study finds that both narrow micropores and nitrogen content are important in deciding the CO2 adsorption ability for these adsorbents under ambient conditions. Besides the high CO2 adsorption ability, these adsorbents also demonstrate stable recyclability, high selectivity of CO2 over N2, suitable heat of adsorption, rapid adsorption kinetics, as well as excellent dynamic CO2 uptake. The above-mentioned excellent CO2 adsorption performance together with the low cost of precursor and facile synthesis strategy prove that these glucose-based porous carbonaceous sorbents are a potential candidate for industrial capture of CO2.