Preparation and Characterization of Activated Carbon–Zeolite Composite for Gas Adsorption Separation of CO2/N2 System

In the present work, an alternative type of composite adsorbent has been prepared by adding a small amount of about 7 wt % of activated carbon into the zeolite 13X structure. Besides, zeolite 13X is synthesized as a pure adsorbent for operational comparison. The synthesized zeolite 13X, as well as the composite form, is produced by a hydrothermal method. Moreover, both of them are characterized using a variety of conventional analyzing procedures including X-ray diffraction, X-ray fluorescence, Brunauer–Emmett–Teller, and scanning electron microscopy analyses. Both adsorbents are tested in CO2/N2 separation via a standard adsorption process. Pure adsorption data of CO2 and N2 were determined experimentally at three temperatures of (283, 303, and 323) K and pressures up to 1600 mbar in a static volumetric method on both adsorbents. The results of comparing the activated carbon-zeolite composite with the crystalline structure of zeolite 13X revealed upgrades in some properties. Furthermore, the binary adsorption data of the system have been also measured on both adsorbents and evaluated by ideal adsorbed solution theory. Finally, the job is completed by the presentation of binary equilibrium diagrams as well as the experimental selectivities.