METHOD OF PREPARING CARBON MOLECULAR SIEVE ADSORBENTS FROM ACTIVATED CARBON AND A POLYMER

A process to prepare a carbon molecular sieve adsorbent composition comprises steps beginning with an activated carbon having specific effective micropore size. The activated carbon is impregnated with monomers or partially polymerized polymer, allowed to complete polymerization, and then carbonized such that the impregnant shrinks the micropores to another specific effective micropore size. Finally, the impregnated/polymerized/carbonized product is annealed at a temperature ranging from 1000° C. to 1500° C., which ultimately and predictably shrinks the micropores to a size ranging from 4.0 Angstroms to 4.3 Angstroms. The invention surprisingly enables fine tuning of the effective micropore size, as well as desirable selectivity, capacity and adsorption rates, to obtain highly desirable carbon molecular sieving capability particularly suited for use in, for example, fixed beds in pressure swing or temperature swing processes to enable propylene/propane separations.