Thomas, Ryan

The potential of paper waste-derived activated carbon was investigated for the removal of carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulfide from landfill gas. Activated carbon materials were prepared by carbonizing paper waste followed by acid treatment to remove ash, mixing with aqueous phase potassium hydroxide, and activation via microwave heating. Activated samples were tested using thermogravimetric analysis to determine their equilibrium uptake of carbon dioxide. The adsorbent materials were modified with both tetraethylenepentamine and diethanolamine to potentially increase the carbon dioxide uptake, however, all the modified samples had a performance significantly worse than their unmodified counterparts. Adsorbent screening was conducted in conditions mimicking that of landfill gas, namely temperature of 40 °C and 40% carbon dioxide in nitrogen. Performant samples were identified as those achieving uptakes greater than 3 wt.%. The best performing sample achieved an uptake of 5.03 wt.% and maintained 97% of its uptake during 100 successive adsorption-desorption cycles. Column-breakthrough experiments demonstrated that the final candidate achieved complete removal of both carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulfide, suggesting viability for larger scale landfill gas purification.