Bio-methane adsorption by activated carbon: Understanding the potential via characterization of Sri Lankan activated carbon

There is growing global interest on bio-methane as a vehicular fuel and Europe Union (EU) has stated that this as a best well-to-wheel fuel. Commercialization of bio-methane under atmospheric conditions is limited due to its requirement of higher storage capacity. Compressed bio-methane systems have been currently commercialized in Europe in order to increase its low energy density however the process requires higher capital and maintenance costs. Thus, adsorbed bio-methane is suggested as a better alternative to store methane under low pressure conditions & activated carbon (AC) has shown promise as a methane adsorbent. This study is based on identifying the potential absorptivity of bio-methane into commercially available AC in Sri Lanka. The paper presents the pathway envisage in this task. Two types of commercial AC samples as granular & pelletize forms have been used from supplier HAYCARB for the analysis. In this paper, characterization data from the principals is used to investigate the methane uptake potential into commercial AC. Further, the study has been continued in evaluating several developed correlations in literature on linear behaviour of micropore volume of AC to methane uptake & concluded that the linear parameters of micropore volume to methane uptake would vary according to AC properties. Thus a correlation for local AC is important to be developed. Hence, an experimental setup is developed to carry out detailed studies on bio-methane adsorption on commercial AC available in Sri Lanka.