Predictions of the adsorption equilibrium of CO2/O2 mixture on multi-walled carbon nanotube using Ideal Adsorbed Solution Theory

Multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) were found to be an effective separation media for purifing CO2 from O2. Significant uptakes of CO2 and O2 were measured at 288 K, 298K and 308 K over the pressure range of 1 to 40 bar using volumetric method in dual sorption vessels. The same shape of isotherms introduced a common mechanism of adsorption but the amount of CO2 adsorbed on MWCNT is 2 times higher than O2 adsorption. The mass uptake of CO2 and O2 by MWCNT was found to increase with increasing pressure and decreasing temperature. The experimental data was well fitted by the Langmuir and Freundlich model isotherms considering the values of regression correlation coefficients. Following a simple acidic treatment procedure, CO2 and O2 adsorption was increased over range of pressure. The adsorbents was characterized by N2 adsorption isotherm at 77 K, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The effect of temperature and pressure on selectivity obtained from IAST demonstrated that maximum selectivity over the pressure and temperature ranges p = 0.5-5 bar and T = 298–308 K was achieved at 308 K and 5 bar