Characterization of the PSD of activated carbons from peach stones for separation of combustion gas mixtures

Controlled series of microporous carbons were prepared through chemical activation with phosphoric acid from peach stones as the precursor material, corresponding to different preparation conditions. Adsorption isotherms of N-2 at 77 K and of CO2 at 273 K were measured to be used in the characterization of the samples. The recently proposed mixed-geometry model (MGM), which assumes that the activated carbon is better represented by a mixture of slit and triangular geometry pores, is used to obtain the PSDs of the samples, on the basis of Grand Canonical Monte Carlo (GCMC) simulated ideal isotherms, both for N-2 at 77 K and of CO2 at 273 K. Our results emerging from the analysis of two families of activated carbons reveal a consistent picture supporting the thesis that the PSDs of the same sample obtained trough N-2 and CO2 adsorption are different, a still controversial issue in the literature. Comparison of predictions from the MGM with those of the pure slit geometry model (PSGM) shows that the former gives a more consistent picture and more similar PSDs for the two adsorbates used.