Direct Ink 3D Printing of Porous Carbon Monoliths for Gas Separations

Additive manufacturing or 3D printing is the advanced method of manufacturing monolithic adsorbent materials. Unlike beads or pellets, 3D monolithic adsorbents possess the advantages of widespread structural varieties, low heat and mass transfer resistance, and low channeling of fluids. Despite a large volume of research on 3D printing of adsorbents having been reported, such studies on porous carbons are highly limited. In this work, we have reported direct ink 3D printing of porous carbon; the ink consisted of commercial activated carbon, a gel of poly(4-vinylphenol) and Pluronic F127 as plasticizer, and bentonite as the binder. The 3D printing was performed in a commercial 3D printer that has been extensively modified in the lab. Upon 3D printing and carbonization, the resultant 3D printed porous carbon demonstrated a stable structure with a BET area of 400 m(2)/g and a total pore volume of 0.27 cm(3)/g. The isotherms of six pure-component gases, CO2, CH4, C2H6, N-2, CO, and H-2, were measured on this carbon monolith at 298 K and pressure up to 1 bar. The selectivity of four gas pairs, C2H6/CH4, CH4/N-2, CO/H-2, and CO2/N-2, was calculated by Ideally Adsorbed Solution Theory (IAST) and reported. Ten continuous cycles of adsorption and desorption of CO2 on this carbon confirmed no loss of working capacity of the adsorbent.

Automated summary

This article introduces the use of 3D printing technology to manufacture porous carbon materials. By using a special ink and a modified 3D printer, a stable structure and good adsorption performance were achieved for the 3D printed porous carbon material. The selectivity and adsorption capacity of the material were experimentally verified, demonstrating potential applications.