Patent number: 6225257

Post-carbonization treatment of microporous carbons for enhancement of methane and natural gas storage properties

Original Assignee: Niagara Mohawk Power Corporation

Field of technology: Industrial Machinery and Processes

Patent granted on: Tue, 01 May 2001

Patent drawing

Abstract

Microporous carbonaceous materials, useful in the storage of gaseous fuels such as methane and natural gas, are improved through modification of their microporous structure in a post-carbonization process. This modification is done by heat treatment in an oxidizing atmosphere containing carbon dioxide with or without other diluting gases such as nitrogen, argon or water-vapor. The post-carbonization process involved modifying a starting microporous carbon with heat treatment in which the carbon is contacted with a carbon dioxide-containing atmosphere. This new treatment can be favorably applied either to selected and commercially available activated microporous carbons which have been designed for applications other than fuel gas storage or to synthetic microporous carbons proposed for storage of light gases.