Electrically regenerable mesoporous carbon for CO₂ capture

High capacity carbon adsorbents, with high mesoporous volumes, high surface areas and narrow pore size distributions, were prepared in powdered form. These were prepared using a reverse replication method, in which sucrose is carbonized inside a mesoporous silica template. These carbon adsorbents were then functionalized using a multi-step synthesis to form amine functionalized products suitable for CO₂ adsorption. The reversible CO₂ adsorption capacities significantly improved upon functionalization. Functionalized carbon samples were also prepared in monolithic form, via a binderless pelletization procedure. These amine functionalized carbon monoliths had the potential to be used in an electrical swing adsorption procedure. This is an abstract of a paper presented at the 231st ACS National Meeting (Atlanta, GA 3/26-30/2006).