52 research outputs found
Making Activated Carbon for Storing Gas
Solid disks of microporous activated carbon, produced by a method that enables optimization of pore structure, have been investigated as means of storing gas (especially hydrogen for use as a fuel) at relatively low pressure through adsorption on pore surfaces. For hydrogen and other gases of practical interest, a narrow distribution of pore sizes <2 nm is preferable. The present method is a variant of a previously patented method of cyclic chemisorption and desorption in which a piece of carbon is alternately (1) heated to the lower of two elevated temperatures in air or other oxidizing gas, causing the formation of stable carbon/oxygen surface complexes; then (2) heated to the higher of the two elevated temperatures in flowing helium or other inert gas, causing the desorption of the surface complexes in the form of carbon monoxide. In the present method, pore structure is optimized partly by heating to a temperature of 1,100 C during carbonization. Another aspect of the method exploits the finding that for each gas-storage pressure, gas-storage capacity can be maximized by burning off a specific proportion (typically between 10 and 20 weight percent) of the carbon during the cyclic chemisorption/desorption process
Pyrolysis process for producing fuel gas
Solid waste resource recovery in space is effected by pyrolysis processing, to produce light gases as the main products (CH.sub.4, H.sub.2, CO.sub.2, CO, H.sub.2O, NH.sub.3) and a reactive carbon-rich char as the main byproduct. Significant amounts of liquid products are formed under less severe pyrolysis conditions, and are cracked almost completely to gases as the temperature is raised. A primary pyrolysis model for the composite mixture is based on an existing model for whole biomass materials, and an artificial neural network models the changes in gas composition with the severity of pyrolysis conditions
Pyrolysis processing for solid waste resource recovery
Solid waste resource recovery in space is effected by pyrolysis processing, to produce light gases as the main products (CH.sub.4, H.sub.2, CO.sub.2, CO, H.sub.2O, NH.sub.3) and a reactive carbon-rich char as the main byproduct. Significant amounts of liquid products are formed under less severe pyrolysis conditions, and are cracked almost completely to gases as the temperature is raised. A primary pyrolysis model for the composite mixture is based on an existing model for whole biomass materials, and an artificial neural network models the changes in gas composition with the severity of pyrolysis conditions
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STRUCTURE-BASED PREDICTIVE MODEL FOR COAL CHAR COMBUSTION
This report is part on the ongoing effort at Brown University and Ohio State University to develop structure based models of coal combustion. A very fundamental approach is taken to the description of coal chars and their reaction processes, and the results are therefore expected to have broad applicability to the spectrum of carbon materials of interest in energy technologies. This quarter, our work on structure development in carbons continued. A combination of hot stage in situ and ex situ polarized light microscopy was used to identify the preferred orientational of graphene layers at gas interfaces in pitches used as carbon material precursors. The experiments show that edge-on orientation is the equilibrium state of the gas/pitch interface, implying that basal-rich surfaces have higher free energies than edge-rich surfaces in pitch. This result is in agreement with previous molecular modeling studies and TEM observations in the early stages of carbonization. The results may have important implications for the design of tailored carbons with edge-rich or basal-rich surfaces. In the computational chemistry task, we have continued our investigations into the reactivity of large aromatic rings. The role of H-atom abstraction as well as radical addition to monocyclic aromatic rings has been examined, and a manuscript is currently being revised after peer review. We have also shown that OH radical is more effective than H atom in the radical addition process with monocyclic rings. We have extended this analysis to H-atom and OH-radical addition to phenanthrene. Work on combustion kinetics focused on the theoretical analysis of the data previously gathered using thermogravametric analysis
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VAPOR PRESSURES AND HEATS OF VAPORIZATION OF PRIMARY COAL TARS
This project had as its main focus the determination of vapor pressures of coal pyrolysis tars. It involved performing measurements of these vapor pressures and from them, developing vapor pressure correlations suitable for use in advanced pyrolysis models (those models which explicitly account for mass transport limitations). This report is divided into five main chapters. Each chapter is a relatively stand-alone section. Chapter A reviews the general nature of coal tars and gives a summary of existing vapor pressure correlations for coal tars and model compounds. Chapter B summarizes the main experimental approaches for coal tar preparation and characterization which have been used throughout the project. Chapter C is concerned with the selection of the model compounds for coal pyrolysis tars and reviews the data available to us on the vapor pressures of high boiling point aromatic compounds. This chapter also deals with the question of identifying factors that govern the vapor pressures of coal tar model materials and their mixtures. Chapter D covers the vapor pressures and heats of vaporization of primary cellulose tars. Chapter E discusses the results of the main focus of this study. In summary, this work provides improved understanding of the volatility of coal and cellulose pyrolysis tars. It has resulted in new experimentally verified vapor pressure correlations for use in pyrolysis models. Further research on this topic should aim at developing general vapor pressure correlations for all coal tars, based on their molecular weight together with certain specific chemical characteristics i.e. hydroxyl group content
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