1. Conversion of Corn Cobs to Activated Carbons for Natural gas (methane) adsorption 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 1 LS-MOAMP, 2 ALL-CRAFT, 3 The Pennsylvania State University, 4 Department of Chemical Engineering, and 5 Department of Physics, University of Missouri INTRODUCTION The development of alternative fuels has been a worldwide interest for environmental, national energy security, and economical reasons. Figure 1: The graph shows an increase in U.S dependence on foreign oil, over the last few years. Source: Monthly Energy Review, Table 3.1 Alternative energy sources such as alcohols, hydrogen, propane, natural gas, and electricity have less environmental impact, and can conserve the oil supply 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). 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 NG from Landfill ADSORBED NATURAL GAS EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE NATURAL GAS WHY ARE WE NOT DRIVING NG-FUELED VEHICLES ? ACTIVATED CARBONS FROM CORN COBS 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 Natural gas in CNG is stored at very high pressures of up to 250atm (3600psi) that can cause an explosion during an accident Flat Panel Natural gas tanks that have high storage capacity at low pressure (not exceeding 500psi) are desirable. Compressed Natural Gas tanks 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 1) Adsorbed Natural Gas Tank on a Dodge Dakota truck 2)Best Flat- Panel Tank, developed by Aglarg 1) 2) 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 PARAMETRIC STUDY ACTIVATED CARBON ADSORPTION PROCESS Images of the activated carbons captured by a scanning electron microscope: Activated Carbon uses the physical adsorption process whereby attractive Van der Waals pulls the organics into the interior walls of the carbon Methane CONCLUSION 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 The properties of the activated carbon produced depend on the following variables: