Adsorption of carbon dioxide in porous carbon containing monoethanolamine (MEA): The effect of carbon surface pre-treatment

This research aims to investigate the effect of pre-treatment of carbon surface oxidation in the CO2 adsorption. First, porous carbon was oxidized using 10% H2O2 at 30, 50, and 70°C. The porous carbon, which was oxidized or without oxidation, was impregnated using 5% monoethanolamine (MEA). Adsorption of CO2 was carried out with a pressure up to 1 atm at 30°C. The material was characterized by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), and N2−sorption analysis. The results showed that the surface oxidation increases oxygen functional groups, but it decreases the surface area of porous carbon. Interestingly, the oxidized carbon (oxidation at 30 and 50°C) exhibited an increase in the performance of the CO2 adsorption capacity up to 28% with respect to pristine carbon. When MEA was introduced to the oxidized carbon, it further increased the CO2 uptake. The highest adsorption capacity of 2.84 mmol CO2/gram material was achieved.