Conversion of Corn Cobs to Activated Carbons for Natural gas (methane) adsorption Motunrayo Kemiki 1,2,3, Dr. Peter Pfeifer 2,5, Dr. Galen Suppes 2,4, Dr. Rusty Sutterlin 2,4, Parag Shah 2,4 1LS-MOAMP, 2 ALL-CRAFT, 3 The Pennsylvania State

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Conversion of Corn Cobs to Activated Carbons for
Natural gas (methane) adsorption Motunrayo
Kemiki 1,2,3, Dr. Peter Pfeifer 2,5, Dr. Galen
Suppes 2,4, Dr. Rusty Sutterlin 2,4, Parag Shah
2,41LS-MOAMP, 2 ALL-CRAFT, 3 The Pennsylvania
State University, 4 Department of Chemical
Engineering, and 5 Department of Physics,
University of Missouri
EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE
ADSORBED NATURAL GAS
INTRODUCTION

• Adsorbed natural gas (ANG) is a technology where
  the
• micropores in adsorbent materials are used to
  store NG
• The main advantage of ANG over CNG is to
• reduce the storage pressure.
• Activated carbons are the most promising
• adsorbent materials for ANG

• The development of alternative fuels has been a
  worldwide interest for environmental, national
  energy security, and economical reasons.

Source Monthly Energy Review, Table 3.1
1) Adsorbed Natural Gas Tank on a Dodge Dakota
truck 2)Best Flat-Panel Tank, developed by Aglarg
Figure 1 The graph shows an increase in U.S
dependence on foreign oil, over the last few
years.

• Alternative energy sources such as alcohols,
  hydrogen, propane,
• natural gas, and electricity have less
  environmental impact, and can
• conserve the oil supply

1)
2)

• Activated carbons produced from corn cobs can be
  used to store natural gas in flat panel tanks
  that have high storage capacity at low pressure
  (not exceeding 500psi).

ACTIVATED CARBONS FROM CORN COBS
NATURAL GAS
PARAMETRIC STUDY

• One of the cleanest burning fuels
• Reduce harmful pollutants
• Lower exhaust emissions
• Substantial supply
• NG from NG fields
• Oil fields
• Landfills
• Wide range of applications
• Home heating
• Fuel for next-generation clean vehicles
  Source of hydrogen for fuel-cell cars

The properties of the activated carbon produced
depend on the following variables

• Activated carbons are useful adsorbent with a
• highly porous form of carbon.
• Corn cobs are excellent materials for the
  production of nanoporous carbon for methane
  storage because of their botanical origin are
  similar to coconut shell and olive pits
• Missouri has enough waste corn cobs to supply
  activated carbon for all the cars in the U.S
• Nanoporous Carbon obtained from corn cobs are
  relatively inexpensive

NG from Landfill
WHY ARE WE NOT DRIVING NG-FUELED VEHICLES ?
ACTIVATED CARBON ADSORPTION PROCESS
CONCLUSION

• Current natural gas vehicles are Compressed
  Natural Gas (CNG) vehicles that store natural gas
  in heavy tanks that take up significant
  passenger and truck space

Images of the activated carbons captured by a
scanning electron microscope

• Natural gas in CNG is stored at very high
  pressures of up to 250atm (3600psi) that can
  cause an explosion during an accident

• Activated carbons with a methane uptake of 150v/v
  or greater and a very high surface area
  (800-1600m2/g) can beproduced from corn cobs
• Flat panel tanks can be made from activated
  carbons and can be used
• to store methane at low pressure (not exceeding
  500psi)
• Adsorbent Natural Gas (ANG) technology is a
  promising alternative
• fuel source that is environmentally friendly
• On-going research

Methane

• Flat Panel Natural gas tanks that have high
  storage capacity at low pressure (not
  exceeding 500psi) are desirable.

Compressed Natural Gas tanks
Activated Carbon uses the physical adsorption
process whereby attractive Van der Waals pulls
the organics into the interior walls of the
carbon