Activation of zeolite-Y templated carbon with KOH to enhance the CO2 adsorption capacity

This research was aimed to activate zeolite-Y templated carbon (ZTC-Y) with potassium hydroxide (KOH) at variation weight ratios of KOH(g)/KTZ-Y(g) at 0.5, 1, 1.5 and 2, in order to enhance the carbon dioxide (CO2) adsorption capacity on the material. ZTC-Y was synthesized via impregnation method by carbonization. The activation was performed by heating of impregnated ZTC-Y with KOH at 800°C for 1 hour, followed by acid washing to remove inorganic salt. ZTC-Y before and after activation were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) methods. The surface area and average pore size of activated ZTC-Y were 557.41 m2/g and 2.36 nm, respectively. The CO2 adsorption capacity was determined by gravimetric method. The result showed that activation of ZTC-Y with KOH could increase CO2 adsorption capacity on ZTC-Y. CO2 adsorption capacity was enhanced from 1.07% (wt) to 2.72% (wt) for ZTC-Y after activation with KOH at weight ratio of KOH(g)/ ZTC-Y(g) 1.5.