Selective adsorption of benzene, toluene, and m-xylene on sulfonated carbons

In recent years, several new materials were developed to improve the adsorption of benzene, toluene, and mxylene (BTX) in the vapor phase, typically concerning its application of BTX removal from the Claus furnace feed gas. In this connection, the present work attempts to synthesis carbon-based adsorbents, as well as understand its physico-chemical characteristics typically referred to as sulfonated carbon (SC) using the H2SO4, sucrose, and TEOS as the precursors. The synthesized adsorbent was characterized utilizing the BET surface area analyzer, XRD, FTIR, XPS, CHNSO, SEM, and HR-TEM. The adsorbents were subjected to BTX adsorption through a gravimetric technique covering different temperatures. The sulfonated carbon possesses higher adsorption capacity for BTX as compared to a highly porous ordered mesoporous carbon CMK-3. The overall adsorption characteristics of the SC prepared at 300 degrees C (SC-300) seems to be better than the samples heat-treated at 600 and 900 degrees C, promising to be suitable adsorbent for commercial adoption.