A pilot study of activated carbon and metal–organic frameworks for methane storage

The methane storage of an activated carbon and two metal–organic frameworks (Cu3(btc)2 and Al(OH) Fumarate) are compared for laboratory scale (∼1 g of material) to pilot scale measurements (∼1.5 kg of material). Excess adsorption and volumetric storage capacity uptakes agreed well between the two measurements. By decomposing the volumetric storage capacity into the contributions from the gas and adsorbed phases, the volumetric storage was evidenced to be dominated by the excess adsorption up to 100 bar. The volumetric storage is a function of both the excess adsorption uptake and the material’s bulk density. The AC shows higher heat transfer rates than the metal–organic frameworks upon adsorption indicating a superior thermal conductivity. The mean flow velocity has been estimated from the pilot scale measurements and is discussed as it will strongly influence the adsorbed natural gas technology performance.