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Effect of operating variables on CO2 adsorption capacity of activated carbon,

kaolinite, and activated carbon – Kaolinite composite adsorbent

Article in Water-Energy Nexus · August 2022

DOI: 10.1016/j.wen.2022.08.001

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Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Water-Energy Nexus
CHINESE ROOTS
GLOBAL IMPACT
journal homepage: www.keaipublishing.com/en/journals/water-energy-nexus/

Effect of operating variables on CO2 adsorption capacity of activated

carbon, kaolinite, and activated carbon – Kaolinite composite adsorbent
Stephen Okiemute Akpasi a,⇑, Yusuf Makarfi Isa b
a
Chemical Engineering Department of Durban University of Technology, PO Box 1334, Durban 4000, South Africa
b
Chemical Engineering Department of University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Global climate change is currently a major problem and is thought to be due to high levels of CO2 and
Received 19 February 2021 other greenhouse gases. Several technologies have been built to lower CO2 emissions. Adsorption, a
Revised 17 July 2022 promising technology for CO2 capture, is among these technologies. In addition to adsorbent develop-
Accepted 12 August 2022
ment, it is essential to determine the influence of operating variables on developed materials.
Available online 18 August 2022
Furthermore, in this study, an activated carbon (AC), kaolinite (KAO) and kaolinite-activated carbon
(KAC) composite adsorbent characterized was evaluated for CO2 adsorption. The aim of this study was
Keywords:
to investigate the effect of operating variables on the CO2 adsorption capacity on each adsorbent (acti-
Kaolinite
Activated carbon
vated carbon, kaolinite, and kaolinite – activated carbon composite) and select the most suitable to serve
Carbonization as the solid anchor in the production of a hydrophobic adsorbent material for CO2 capture. Furthermore,
Chemical activation Scanning Electron Microscopy, N2 physisorption and Fourier Transform Infrared were tested for the mor-
Adsorption phology, surface area and functional groups of the adsorbents, respectively. The CO2 adsorption capacity
of the adsorbents was measured using a custom-built 1.0 cm internal diameter adsorption column at (3
to 5 cm) bed height, (30 to 70 °C) operating temperature, and (30 to 70 mL/min) CO2 feed flow rates. The
maximum amounts of AC, KAC and KAO adsorbed were found to be 28.97 mg CO2/g, 18.54 mg CO2/g and
12.98 mg CO2/g, respectively. Based on the above findings, this study has demonstrated the effect of oper-
ating variables on CO2 adsorption capacity of the adsorbents and present it as a viable condition for the
adsorption process.
Ó 2022 The Authors. Publishing services by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of KeAi Communications Co. Ltd. This is
an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Introduction significant factor in adsorption processes of CO2. The effect of tem-

In adsorption processes, understanding the influence of operat-
ing variables as well as how they interact with each other is of
major importance to ensuring that the process is as efficient as
possible. For adsorption to be economically carried out in post-
combustion capture, the high adsorption capacity is required for
material production, identifying the effect of operating variables
on the adsorption capacity of developed adsorbents, and optimiz-
ing these operating variables during CO2 capture to ensure the
maximum possible capacity. Several factors, including pressure,
temperature, and purity of the feed gas as well as the nature of
the adsorbent, affect CO2 capture through adsorption. These factors
will determine the magnitude of adsorption that occurs depending
on how they are individually adjusted and how they interact with
each other. The temperature of the incoming flue gas stream is a
⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: 21958199@dut4life.ac.za (S.O. Akpasi), Yusuf.Isa@wits.ac.za
(Y.M. Isa).
perature depends on whether physisorption or chemisorption is
occurring. Physisorption is an exothermic process and thus results
in the evolution of heat when it occurs (Bonjour, Chalfen and
Meunier 2002). As such, at equilibrium if the temperature is
increased, adsorption decreases. The converse is true, if tempera-
ture is decreased, adsorption increases. This phenomenon is based
on Le Chatelier’s principle which when extrapolated to exothermic
processes states that increasing temperature decreases the magni-
tude of the exothermic process (Brown 2009). If chemisorption is
occurring at equilibrium, the magnitude of adsorption initially
increases to a maximum, thereafter it starts to decrease (Faust
and Aly 1998; Brown 2009). Brown (2009) suggests that this is
because for chemisorption to occur, the activation energy must
be achieved first, the reaction happens afterwards, and the result-
ing decrease can be due to the mechanism of adsorption becoming
exothermic after the reaction has been initiated. The pressure of
the incoming flue gas stream is of interest in post-combustion
CO2 adsorption capture. The magnitude of the adsorption is pro-
portional to the magnitude of the pressure. Adsorption also

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wen.2022.08.001
2588-9125/Ó 2022 The Authors. Publishing services by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of KeAi Communications Co. Ltd.
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
S.O. Akpasi and Y.M. Isa
improves as pressure increases. The greater the pressure, the
higher the adsorbable component’s partial pressure, the better
the adsorption of that component (Faust and Aly 1998; Keller
and Staudt 2005). The converse is true, the lower the pressure,
the lower the adsorption (Faust & Aly, 1998). The flue gas compo-
sition also affects the adsorption process. The higher the critical
temperature of the mixture component, the greater the quantity
of adsorption of that component (Keller and Staudt 2005). This
implies that, unlike components that are not readily liquefiable,
strongly liquefiable components are adsorbed first and in greater
amounts. Adsorption occurs on the adsorbent surface and thus
the nature of the adsorbent affects CO2 adsorption greatly. The nat-
ure of the adsorbent includes all the surface area properties of the
adsorbent, the volume of the pore, the size of the pore, the physical
shape of the adsorbent (powder form or granule form) and the
chemistry of the surface adsorbent (Faust and Aly 1998; W John
Thomas and Crittenden 1998; Yang 2003). The greater the surface
area, pore size, adsorbent forms, and adsorbent pore volume, the
greater the adsorption. These properties enable the adsorbent to
have a higher contact with adsorbate molecules hence increasing
the adsorption of CO2 onto the adsorbent (Ngoy et al. 2014). The
chemistry of the adsorbent also affects the adsorption process with
specific functional groups increasing the affinity of the adsorbent
to adsorb particular molecules (Yang et al. 2008; Czaun et al. 2013).
Against this context, this chapter addresses the effect of operat-
ing variables on the adsorption capacity of activated carbon (AC),
kaolinite (KAO) and kaolinite - activated carbon KAC adsorbents,
in specific temperature, column height and gas flow rate, and
choose the most effective one to function as the solid anchor in
the production of a hydrophobic adsorbent material for CO2
capture.
Experimental
Materials
The adsorbent applied in this work for CO2 capture was kaolin-
ite (KAO) and activated carbon (AC) with a structure as shown in
Fig. 2.1. The materials used in this analysis include pure carbon
dioxide gas (99.99 percent CO2). Under a modified protocol as
specified by Tran et al. (2016). In our laboratory, activated carbon
used for this study was not purchased but prepared, while all the
gases included in this study were obtained from Afrox (Pty) South
Fig. 2.1. A structural model of biomass lignocellulosic components.
22
Water-Energy Nexus 5 (2022) 21–28
Africa and used without further purification. The adsorption col-
umn used and coupling fittings were purchased from Swagelok,
South Africa. The column has an inner diameter of 1.0 cm with a
length 20 cm. The equipment used for analysis in this study
includes Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy;(FTIR),
Brunauer–Emmett–Teller instrument, Scanning Electron Micro-
scopy, and custom-built CO2 adsorption column equipment.
Fig. 2.2 illustrates the chemical structure of kaolinite.
Preparation of activated carbon (AC)
Activated carbon from the sugar cane bagasse was prepared. To
remove dirt and other impurities, the sugar cane bagasse was
washed with hot distilled water, oven-dried at 110 °C for 2 hours
before activation. With the aid of an attrition mill as shown in
Fig. 2.3(a), the material was then crushed for 15 minutes and sep-
arated into particles, sieved to a particle size of (<250 lm) using a
mechanical sieve shaker before activated carbon synthesis. Acti-
vated carbon was produced using a chemical activating agent
(ZnCl2). During the chemical activation process, 10 g of dried pre-
cursor was mixed well with 100 ml of solution containing 10 g of
ZnCl2 for 24hours at room temperature. In this case, the target
chemical ratio was 100 % (activating agent / precursor). The result-
ing bagasse was then dried for 24 hours at 110 °C. After this, the
obtained ZnCl2– impregnated sugarcane bagasse was placed inside
the tubular furnace as shown in Fig. 2.3(b). During carbonization
and activation, a nitrogen gas flow of 200 mL/min was employed
to create an inert atmosphere within the reactor. The temperature
was raised to 500 °C (a heating rate of 10 °C / min) during car-
bonization and held for 1 hour. The furnace and gas flow were sub-
sequently shut off and the carbonized sugarcane bagasse AC was
allowed to cool to room temperature naturally within the furnace
after it was switched off. The char was washed continuously with
deionized water to remove residual Zn. Finally, the product of ACs
were ground to a fine powder (<30 mesh size) and stored for the
adsorption experiment. The following equation quantified the AC
yields:
Wc
Yield ð%Þ ¼  100
Wo
Where: Wc and Wo are the weight of activated carbon (g) and
the weight of the dry precursor (g), respectively.
S.O. Akpasi and Y.M. Isa
Fig. 2.2. Chemical structure of Kaolinite.
Characterization of the physiochemical properties of kaolinite clay and
the synthesized activated carbon (AC)
To characterize the synthesized activated carbon and kaolinite
adsorbent, Scanning Electron Microscopy Fourier Transform Infra-
red Spectroscopy (FTIR), and N2 physisorption (using BET) were
performed.
FTIR analysis
The functional groups present in the synthesized activated car-
bon and kaolinite were verified using FTIR. FTIR is widely used for
the study of chemical bonds and functional groups. FTIR can be
applied to analyze surface chemistry and to understand the inter-
actions between surfaces during CO2 adsorption. The chemical
structure and functional groups of activated carbon fibers was
determined by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy.
SEM analysis
The surface morphology of prepared activated carbon and
kaolinite samples was observed using the scanning electron micro-
scopes. SEM investigation was conducted at the University of Cape
Town’s Electron Microscope Unit.
Fig. 2.3. Images of (a) Attrition mill (b) Tubular furnace.
23
Water-Energy Nexus 5 (2022) 21–28
BET analysis
BET clarifies the physical adsorption on a solid surface of gas
molecules and forms the basis for an effective analytical method
to measure the specific surface area of the material. Nitrogen
physisorption at 77 K was performed on sugar cane based activated
carbon (SBAC), kaolinite and kaolinite/activated carbon composite
adsorbent to identify the BET surface area, pore size, and pore vol-
ume. A Micromeritics Tristar analyzer was used to perform N2
physisorption. The N2 physisorption analysis was performed at
Durban University of Technology’s Department of Chemical
Engineering.
Evaluation of CO2 adsorption performance of activated carbon,
kaolinite, and kaolinite-activated carbon composite adsorbent.
3.0 g of adsorbents (approximately 5.0 cm in packing height)
and mounted in a temperature control bath to maintain a steady
desired temperature. Throughout the experiment, the thermostatic
water bath temperature was kept constant. The experiment was
allowed to run for 1200 seconds (20 minutes) at each temperature
(30, 50 and 70 °C). The height of the bed was varied from 3 to 5 cm
at each run to study the behaviour of the adsorbents. Experiments
were performed at various flow rates and heights to see the effect
of flow rate and height in the adsorption process at constant tem-
perature. The feed gas flow rate was 30 mL/min. The column was
opened after each run, and the adsorbent was changed. To continue
the adsorption test, a new adsorbent material (3 g) was fed into the
column. To examine the impact of flow rates on the adsorption
capacity of the adsorbents, the operating flow rate was varied from
30 to 70 mL/min at constant temperature. The effect of bed height
on the adsorption behaviour of the adsorbents was also assessed
when the flow rate was varied (30, 40, 50, 60 and 70 mL/min). A
process flow diagram describes the experimental process in
Fig. 2.4; the change in mass of the sample was calculated and used
to determine the amount of CO2 adsorbed, using Eq. (2.1) below.
The range and values of the variables utilized in the experiment
are shown in Table 2.1.
CO2 adsorption capacity
weight of adsorbent after adsorption  weight of adsorbent before adsorption
¼
weight of adsorbent before adsorption
ð2:1Þ
S.O. Akpasi and Y.M. Isa
Fig. 2.4. Process flow diagram of the adsorption set-up.
Table 2.1
Experimental conditions for adsorption.
Operating conditions Value (range)
Adsorption temperatures (°C) 30–70
Inlet gas flowrate (mL/min) 30–70
Height of column (cm) 3–5
Result and discussion
SEM analysis
The scanning electron microscopy technique was used to exam-
ine the surface physical morphology of the activated carbon and
kaolinite material. Fig. 3.1 displays SEM images of activated carbon
(at optimum operating conditions before and after carbonization)
and kaolinite material with a magnification of 50,000X at a resolu-
tion of 2 lm, 5 lm and 20 lm. This became possible to observe
pores of various sizes and shapes. The micrograph images in
Fig. 3.1(b) can be seen that the exterior surface is full of caking and
aggregation of chemically activated carbon, existing on the char
structure and therefore leading to the formation of chars with
an intact external surface. According to the micrograph, the higher
aggregates seemed to have been derived from the evaporation of
ZnCl2 during carbonization, rendering the space previously occu-
pied by the ZnCl2.
Interestingly, with the activation of the sugarcane bagasse with
ZnCl2, the carbon structure of the sample increases and begins to
cohere and form sphere-shaped porous variable-size structures.
These structures can assist in the movement of CO2 gas molecules
through a broad range of adsorption sites. This demonstrates that
Fig. 3.1. Scanning electron microscopy images of activated carbon (a) before carbonization (b) after carbonization at 500 °C (c) kaolinite.
24
Water-Energy Nexus 5 (2022) 21–28
activation removes hydrocarbons, which enhances the adsorption
capacity of activated carbon. Discrete aggregation was shown in
Fig. 3.1(c) and was characterized by the presence of few mesopores
and made spherical, making the surface rough.
BET analysis
Table 3.1 shows the BET surface area for activated carbon,
kaolinite and kaolinite – activated carbon adsorbents. The obtained
BET surface area was substantially high, which is within the appro-
priate range of commercial activated carbon (500–1500 m2/g).Gen-
erally, with a high BET surface area, results in higher adsorption
capacity because activated carbon is capable to adsorb a number
of gases under different conditions (Skodras et al. 2007).
We observed that for the activated carbon, a higher surface area
was generated, 713 m2/g compared to kaolinite, 63 m2/g, and
kaolinite – activated carbon, 340 m2/g. This is because ZnCl2 has
helped to generate more new pores and expand the existing pores
as the activating agent. The maximum pore volume (0.26 cm3/g)
was also displayed by the activated carbon, followed by kaolinite
(0.10 cm3/g), indicating greater gas adsorption. At this moment,
adsorption of CO2 was not only related to BET surface area and pore
volume, but also depended on reaction occurred between adsor-
bate (CO2) and adsorbent (loaded AC) and kaolinite samples.
FTIR analysis
The FT-IR test results of activated carbon before and after CO2
adsorption are presented in Fig. 3.2 whereas the FT-IR test results
of kaolinite before and after the adsorption of CO2 are depicted in
Fig. 3.3. The functional group analysis was conducted at a range of
500–4000 cm1 wavelengths.
As seen in Fig. 3.2, the activated carbon spectrum displaced an
absorption peak of 3671 cm1 clearly indicating the presence of an
OAH functional group. First, the broad peak at 3671 cm1 shifted
and became weak at 3641 cm1 due to the OAH stretch and the
H-bonding of the hydroxyl group in alcohols and phenols. The
asymmetry of this band indicates the presence of strong hydrogen
bonds. The peak 537 cm1 which shifted to 542 cm1 indicates the
presence of the CAH group. A strong band at 1844 cm1 shifted to
1741 cm1, attributed to the C@O groups of anhydride compounds.
Whereas for the kaolinite spectrum before and after adsorption
of CO2 in Fig. 3.3, there is an absorption peak of 3305 cm1 shifted
to 3482 cm1 confirming the formation of OAH group that may
incorporate water, alcohol, and phenol components. The compar-
ison of the activated carbon FTIR spectra before and after CO2
adsorption indicates the change in the spectrum that occurred
and it can be said that the adsorbent’s functional groups were
actively engaged in the adsorption process (Chang et al. 2012).
Overall, it can be concluded that the activated carbon has func-
tional groups that can help bind or trap particles including alco-
S.O. Akpasi and Y.M. Isa Water-Energy Nexus 5 (2022) 21–28

Table 3.1 occurs, i.e., physisorption or chemisorption. During the adsorption

BET Surface area, pore volume and pore size. test, the effect of temperature on CO2 adsorption was evaluated.
Sample BET surface Total pore Average pore The temperature was varied, and the CO2 flowrate was kept con-
area (m2/g) volume (cm3/g) diameter (Å) stant for each run.
Activated carbon 713 0.26 30.27 The behaviour that shows the effect of temperature on adsor-
Kaolinite 63 0.10 14.09 bents’ CO2 adsorption capacity is also displayed in Fig. 3.4. In other
Kaolinite + Activated 340 0.12 25.48 words, the adsorbents’ CO2 adsorption capability increased as the
carbon
adsorption temperature decreased. As adsorption is an exothermic
process, this is predicted (Yu, Huang and Tan 2012). Since active
CO2 gas molecules come in contact with the adsorbent and heat
is produced, the adsorbent adsorbs the gas molecules (that is the
heat of adsorption) (Mori and Yamada 1994). Through - adsorption
temperature, the kinetic energy of CO2 gas molecules is increased,
so CO2 molecules have high kinetic energy at high adsorption tem-
peratures, so they move faster and result in less adsorption time on
the adsorbent surface, leading to reduced adsorption capacity at
high adsorption temperatures. Increased temperatures give CO2
molecules more internal energy in the gas phase. It should be
noted that increased energy enables a higher rate of diffusion of
gaseous molecules. However, at the same time, the possibility of
CO2 being limited or retained on the adsorbent surface by fixed
energy adsorption sites is decreased. The highest adsorption capac-
ity was obtained at 30 ⁰C for activated carbon, kaolinite, and
kaolinite-activated carbon systems. The general trend observed is
that CO2 adsorption decreases with temperature increase. This
result is consistent with literature since gas adsorption decreases
when the temperature increases. The kinetic energy of gases
increases with the temperature at a constant flow rate, leading to
less surface CO2 gas coverage. The pattern observed can be attribu-
Fig. 3.2. The FTIR spectrum of activated carbon before and after adsorption.
table to the exothermic existence of the method of adsorption.
It was expected that the nature of the adsorption would be
chemisorption. Rojahn is in agreement and states that with
chemisorption the magnitude of the adsorption will initially
increase to a maximum with an increase in temperature and will
decrease thereafter (Rojahn et al. 2018). Rojahn suggests that this
is because with chemisorption the activation energy has to be
achieved first, thereafter the reaction occurs and the subsequent
decrease is attributed to the exothermic nature of the reaction
(Rojahn et al. 2018).

Fig. 3.3. FTIR spectral characteristics of kaolinite before and after adsorption.
hols, phenols, alkanes, and alkyl halides. The hydroxyl group has a
strong affinity to pollutants and heavy metal ions (Lazim et al.
2015).
CO2 adsorption
Effect of temperature
The effect of (30 – 70) ⁰C temperature was studied. The effect of
temperature on CO2 adsorption capacity is a significant factor in
the process of capturing CO2 after combustion. It is expected that
the temperature will influence the nature of the adsorption that
25
Effect of flowrate
The effect of the flow rate on CO2 adsorption capacity is another
significant factor in post-combustion CO2 capture processes. The
flow rate is expected to influence the quantity of adsorbed CO2.
The effect of flowrate on CO2 adsorption was evaluated during
the adsorption experiment. The flowrate was varied while the tem-
perature was kept constant at 30 ⁰C, 50 ⁰C and 70 ⁰C, respectively.
Fig. 3.5 demonstrates the effects of the flow rate on the capacity of
activated carbon (AC), kaolinite and kaolinite/activated carbon
adsorbent systems for CO2 adsorption, respectively. The highest
CO2 adsorbed was achieved using a flowrate of 30 mL/min. The
CO2 adsorbed with a flowrate of 40 mL/min, 50 mL/min, 60 mL/
min, and 70 mL/min are lower than that achieved with a flowrate
of 30 mL/min. Reducing the gas inlet flow rate has been found to
increase contact time and improve mass transfer between CO2
and the adsorbents. Explicitly, the retention time of CO2 molecules
is improved by lower flow rates on the selected; adsorbents within
the packed bed adsorption column, leading to a high amount of
CO2 adsorbed. Adsorbate (CO2) has more time to reach the adsor-
bent at a lower flow rate, resulting in greater CO2 adsorption power
(Ahmad and Hameed 2010). Relatively long residence times are
needed for a greater amount of CO2 to be adsorbed and retained
in the pores of the adsorbents. As a result of the aforementioned
reasons, at different flow rates of 30, 40, 50, 60 and 70 mL/min
CO2, the maximum amount of CO2 adsorbed by sugarcane
bagasse-based activated carbon was 28.97, 20.58, 18.72, 17.45
S.O. Akpasi and Y.M. Isa Water-Energy Nexus 5 (2022) 21–28

Fig. 3.4. Effect of Temperature on the adsorbent systems at flowrate of 30 mL/min and 5 cm column height.

Fig. 3.5. Effect of Flowrate on the adsorbent systems at fixed 5 cm column height of different temperatures.

and 16.88 mg CO2/g of adsorbent. However, it should be empha-
sized that for repeatability and accuracy, the experiments were
severely replicated.
Effect of bed height of column
The CO2 adsorption capacity of the packed bed also increased as
the bed height increased measured bed heights (3 cm = 10.7 g,
4 cm = 13.6 g and 5 cm = 17.6 g) were used to analyze the effect
of activated carbon, kaolinite, and kaolinite-activated carbon sys-
tems on the CO2 adsorption performance. At about 30 mL/min to
70 mL/min, the flow rate was kept constant. The effect of bed
height for CO2 adsorption onto activated carbon and kaolinite sam-
ples at heights of 3, 4, and 5 cm is shown in Fig. 3.6, which indi-
26
cated that as bed height increases, CO2 adsorption capacity also
increases. The highest adsorption capacity of CO2 for activated car-
bon, kaolinite, and kaolinite -activated carbon systems was
achieved at the height of 5 cm. The good performance of CO2
adsorption on activated carbon (AC) at a bed height of 5.0 cm
may also be due to greater possibilities of interaction between
CO2 gas and activated adsorbent particles. Interestingly, since an
increase in bed height induces higher mass transfer resistance
and slower adsorption kinetics, the mass transfer zone also broad-
ened (Nouri and Ouederni, 2013). This was due to the increase in
surface area and the number of available adsorption binding sites.
As the amount of adsorbent has increased, the time for adsorbate
and adsorbent interaction also increased (Fat’hi et al. 2014;
Teutscherova et al. 2018).
S.O. Akpasi and Y.M. Isa
Fig. 3.6. Effect of column height on the adsorbent systems at flowrate of 30 mL/min of different temperatures.
Conclusion
The preparation and performance assessment of activated car-
bon, kaolinite, and kaolinite- activated carbon composite for CO2
capture by adsorption was evaluated. Through a custom-built
adsorption column, the parametric effects of operating variables-
temperature, column height and gas flow rate- were evaluated.
The findings of this experimental study explain the effects of the
proposed variables on the amount of CO2 adsorbed during post-
combustion CO2 capture using 99.98 % pure CO2 gas on the mate-
rial. The outcomes of the research affirm that decrease in temper-
ature, increase in bed height, and decrease in initial flowrate of CO2
content resulted in higher CO2 adsorption. Activated carbon (AC)
with a larger surface area had a better performance for CO2 adsorp-
tion. However, it appears that the sugar cane derived activated car-
bon had stronger adsorption sites compared to the kaolinite and
activated carbon-kaolinite composite at 30 ⁰C. The results review
reveals that all three adsorbents used in this study had a major
impact on the quantity of CO2 adsorbed on the adsorbents. The
maximum amount of CO2 adsorbed was approximately 28.97 mg
CO2/g at 30 ⁰C for activated carbon (AC), the highest capacity
among all the adsorbents tested, according to the specific and
interaction effects of the measured variables. Kaolinite-activated
carbon offered CO2 adsorption capacities of 18.54 mg CO2/g.
Kaolinite provided the lowest capacity of 12.98 mg CO2/g. The
more favourable adsorption capacity of CO2 on activated carbon-
kaolinite at low flowrate implies that the affinity of CO2 is higher
for activated carbon- kaolinite than for kaolinite because of the
presence of activated carbon in KAC. The CO2 adsorption capacity
ranking can then be written as Activated carbon ˃ Kaolinite- acti-
vated carbon ˃ Kaolinite. As the temperature increased to 70 °C,
this ranking remained unchanged. At the higher temperature, the
CO2 adsorption capacity for each adsorbent was reduced. The
capacities at 70 ⁰C for 5 cm are 5.60 mg CO2/g for Activated carbon,
1.89 mg CO2/g for kaolinite – activated carbon, and 1.29 mg CO2/g
for Kaolinite.
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Stephen Okiemute Akpasi: Conceptualization, Methodology,
Investigation, Formal analysis, Writing – original draft. Yusuf
Makarfi Isa: Supervision, Writing – review & editing.
27
Water-Energy Nexus 5 (2022) 21–28
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing finan-
cial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared
to influence the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgements
We gratefully acknowledge the Durban University of Technol-
ogy for enabling us to conduct this research using its laboratory
and library.
Funding sources
For this research, no grants were received from public, private,
or non-profit funding agencies.
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