Kinetic Separation of Methane Containing Gas Mixtures via Carbon Molecular Sieves

The production of biomethane with natural gas quality is an important task in the context of the use of renewable energies. For this purpose, thermal separation processes such as gas scrubbing, adsorption, and membrane separation processes are involved. By applying an adsorption process, the main components methane and carbon dioxide are separated by utilizing the kinetic effect of a carbon molecular sieve. As a result, carbon dioxide is adsorbed on the inner surface of the carbon molecular sieve, while methane remains in the gas phase due to its very slow kinetics. For the evaluation of such materials and the effectiveness of the overall process, both the equilibrium loading and kinetic parameters must be known.