Methane/natural gas storage and delivered capacity for activated carbons in dry and wet conditions

Methane/natural gas storage and delivered capacity for three different activated carbons in dry and wet conditions were measured. In all tests the temperature of the bed was maintained constant at 277.15 K and pressure was increased up to 10 MPa. Natural gas storage capacity was less than methane storage capacity in dry conditions for all the three activated carbons tested, while the gas delivery was almost the same. One of activated carbon tested (NC120) showed the possibility of hydrate forming for pressures higher than 4 MPa but the amount of gas stored still was less than the amount stored in dry conditions over the whole range of pressure. The analysis of the gas delivered at each pressure steps shows that considerable amount of heavy components do not come out from the bed even at very low pressures in both dry and wet condition tests. Repeatability of the sorption/desorption processes – vital for possible commercial/industrial use – has been examined over various cycles.