Nucleophilic porous carbon materials for CO2 and H2S capture

• US 9,604,849 B2
• Filed: 08/13/2014
• Issued: 03/28/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 08/13/2013
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Rice University
• Original Assignee: Rice University
• Inventors: Tour, James M., Hwang, Chih-Chau, Schipper, Desmond E.
• Primary Examiner(s): Jones, Christopher P
• Application Number:
  US14/458,993
• Publication Number:
  US 20150111024A1
• Time in Patent Office: 958 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B01D 53/047 Pressure swing adsorption
• CPC Class Codes: B01D 53/526 Mixtures of hydrogen sulfide and carbon dioxide
• CPC Class Codes: B01D 53/82 with stationary reactants
• CPC Class Codes: B01J 20/0285 Sulfides of compounds other than those provided for in B01J20/045
• CPC Class Codes: B01J 20/06 comprising oxides or hydroxides of metals not provided for in group B01J20/04
• CPC Class Codes: B01J 20/08 comprising aluminium oxide or hydroxide; comprising bauxite
• CPC Class Codes: B01J 20/103 comprising silica
• CPC Class Codes: B01J 20/20 comprising free carbon; comprising carbon obtained by carbonising processes
• CPC Class Codes: B01J 20/28066 being more than 1000 m2/g
• CPC Class Codes: B01J 20/28076 being more than 1.0 ml/g
• CPC Class Codes: B01J 20/28078 Pore diameter
• CPC Class Codes: B01J 20/3204 Inorganic carriers, supports or substrates
• CPC Class Codes: B01J 20/3236 containing metal, other than zeolites, e.g. oxides, hydroxides, sulphides or salts
• CPC Class Codes: B01J 20/3246 having a well defined chemical structure
• CPC Class Codes: C01B 32/342 characterised by non-gaseous activating agents
• CPC Class Codes: C10L 3/102 of acid contaminants
• CPC Class Codes: C10L 3/104 Carbon dioxide
• CPC Class Codes: Y02C 20/40 of CO2
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 20/151 Reduction of greenhouse gas [GHG] emissions, e.g. CO2
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 428/249967 Inorganic matrix in void-containing component

Abstract

In some embodiments, the present disclosure pertains to methods of capturing a gas from an environment by associating the environment (e.g., a pressurized environment) with a porous carbon material that comprises a plurality of pores and a plurality of nucleophilic moieties. In some embodiments, the associating results in sorption of gas components (e.g., CO₂ or H₂S) to the porous carbon materials. In some embodiments, the methods of the present disclosure also include a step of releasing captured gas components from porous carbon materials. In some embodiments, the releasing occurs without any heating steps by decreasing environmental pressure. In some embodiments, the methods of the present disclosure also include a step of disposing released gas components and reusing porous carbon materials. Additional embodiments of the present disclosure pertain to porous carbon materials that are used for gas capture.

Claims

1. A method of capturing a gas from an environment, wherein the method comprises:

associating the environment with a porous carbon material,

wherein the porous carbon material comprises a plurality of pores and a plurality of nucleophilic moieties embedded within the plurality of the pores,

wherein the associating results in sorption of gas components to the porous carbon material,

and wherein the gas components comprise H₂S.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the environment is selected from the group consisting of industrial gas streams, natural gas streams, natural gas wells, industrial gas wells, oil and gas fields, and combinations thereof.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the environment is a pressurized environment.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the environment has a total pressure higher than atmospheric pressure.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the environment has a total pressure of about 5 bar to about 500 bar.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the associating occurs by placing the porous carbon material at or near the environment.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the associating occurs by flowing the environment through a structure that contains the porous carbon materials.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the sorption of the gas components to the porous carbon material occurs by at least one of absorption, adsorption, ionic interactions, physisorption, chemisorption, covalent bonding, non-covalent bonding, hydrogen bonding, van der Waals interactions, acid-base interactions, and combinations thereof.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the sorption of the gas components to the porous carbon material occurs above atmospheric pressure.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the sorption of the gas components to the porous carbon material occurs at total pressures ranging from about 5 bar to about 500 bar.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the H₂S is converted within the pores of the porous carbon materials to at least one of elemental sulfur (S), sulfur dioxide (SO₂), sulfuric acid (H₂SO₄), and combinations thereof.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the porous carbon material has a H₂S sorption capacity of about 10 wt % to about 100 wt % of the porous carbon material weight.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the sorption of H₂S to the porous carbon material results in conversion of H₂S to elemental sulfur, and wherein the formed elemental sulfur becomes impregnated with the porous carbon material.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising a step of releasing captured gas components from the porous carbon material.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the releasing occurs by decreasing the pressure of the environment.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the releasing occurs by placing the porous carbon material in a second environment, wherein the second environment has a lower pressure than the environment where gas capture occurred.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the releasing occurs at or below atmospheric pressure.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein the releasing occurs at the same temperature at which gas sorption occurred.

19. The method of claim 14, wherein the releasing occurs without heating the porous carbon material.

20. The method of claim 14, wherein the releasing occurs by heating the porous carbon material.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein the releasing of the H₂S occurs by heating the porous carbon material.

22. The method of claim 14, further comprising a step of disposing the released gas components.

23. The method of claim 14, further comprising a step of reusing the porous carbon material after the releasing step to capture additional gas components from an environment.

24. The method of claim 1, wherein the porous carbon material is selected from the group consisting of nucleophilic polymers, polypeptides, proteins, waste materials, carbohydrates, cotton, fat, nitrogen-containing porous carbon materials, sulfur-containing porous carbon materials, metal-containing porous carbon materials, metal-oxide containing porous carbon materials, metal sulfide-containing porous carbon materials, phosphorous containing porous carbon materials, and combinations thereof.

25. The method of claim 1, wherein the porous carbon material comprises a nucleophilic polymer.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the nucleophilic polymer is selected from the group consisting of nitrogen-containing polymers, sulfur-containing polymers, polythiophene (PTH), polythiophene-methanol (2-(hydroxymethyl)thiophene), polyacrylonitrile (PAN), polypyrrole, and combinations thereof.

27. The method of claim 25, wherein the nucleophilic polymer is reduced.

28. The method of claim 1, wherein the nucleophilic moieties are selected from the group consisting of primary nucleophiles, secondary nucleophiles, tertiary nucleophiles and combinations thereof.

29. The method of claim 1, wherein the nucleophilic moieties are selected from the group consisting of oxygen-containing moieties, sulfur-containing moieties, metal-containing moieties, metal oxide-containing moieties, metal sulfide-containing moieties, nitrogen-containing moieties, phosphorous-containing moieties, and combinations thereof.

30. The method of claim 1, wherein the nucleophilic moieties comprise nitrogen-containing moieties.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein the nitrogen-containing moieties are selected from the group consisting of primary amines, secondary amines, tertiary amines, nitrogen oxides, and combinations thereof.

32. The method of claim 1, wherein the porous carbon material has surface areas ranging from about 1,000 m²/g to about 3,000 m²/g.

33. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of pores in the porous carbon material comprise diameters ranging from about 5 nm to about 100 nm.

34. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of pores in the porous carbon material comprise volumes ranging from about 1 cm³/g to about 10 cm³/g.

35. The method of claim 1, wherein the porous carbon material has a density ranging from about 0.3 g/cm³ to about 4 g/cm³.

36. The method of claim 1, wherein the porous carbon material comprises a nucleophilic polymer, and wherein the plurality of nucleophilic moieties comprise nitrogen-containing moieties.

37. The method of claim 36, wherein the nucleophilic polymer is carbonized.

38. The method of claim 36, wherein the nucleophilic polymer is carbonized and reduced.

39. The method of claim 1, wherein the porous carbon material has a H₂S sorption capacity of at least about 60 wt %.

40. The method of claim 1, wherein the porous carbon material has a H₂S sorption capacity of at least about 200 wt %.

41. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of pores in the porous carbon material comprise diameters of more than 50 nm.

42. The method of claim 1, wherein the porous carbon material has a surface area of more than about 1,500 m²/g.