CO Capture by Low-Cost Date Pits-Based Activated Carbon and Silica Gel.

The rising levels of CO in the atmosphere are causing escalating average global temperatures. The capture of CO by adsorption has been carried out using silica gel type III and prepared activated carbon. The date pits-based activated carbon was synthesized using a tubular furnace by physical activation. The temperature of the sample was increased at 10 °C/min and the biomass was carbonized under N flow maintained continuously for 2 h at 600 °C. The activation was performed with the CO flow maintained constantly for 2 h at 600 °C. The temperature, feed flow and adsorbate volume were the parameters considered for CO adsorption. The success of CO capture was analyzed by CO uptake, efficiency based on column capacity, utilization factors and the mass transfer zone. The massively steep profiles of the breakthrough response of the AC demonstrate the satisfactory exploitation of CO uptake under the conditions of the breakthrough. The SG contributed to a maximal CO uptake of 8.61 mg/g at 298 K and C = 5% with F = 5 lpm. The enhanced CO uptake of 73.1 mg/g was achieved with a column efficiency of 0.94 for the activated carbon produced from date pits at 298 K. The AC demonstrated an improved performance with a decreased mass transfer zone of 1.20 cm with an enhanced utilization factor f = 0.97 at 298 K. This finding suggests that a date pits-based activated carbon is suitable for CO separation by adsorption from the feed mixture.