A series of microporous carbon powders of Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area ranging from 1900 to 2700 m 2 /g was made from pitch-derived semi-cokes by KOH activation at 750 °C. The powders were compacted into disk-shaped monoliths using a furfuryl-alcohol-based binder. Activation with CO 2 was used to open an access to the microporosity that was blocked by the binder char. The porous texture of monoliths was characterized by the N 2 adsorption at 77 K and mercury porosimetry, and the volumetric storage capacity and delivery V/V was determined from the methane uptake at 25 °C and 3.5 MPa. The results suggest that there is an optimum in porosity development of activated carbon powder and monolith burnoff from the point of view of the monolith performance in volumetric methane storage. The highest adsorption capacity and delivery V/V, which amount to 163 and 145, respectively, represents the monolith made of activated carbon of moderate porosity development (S BET ∼ 2200 m 2 g -1 ) that was activated to the burnoff of about 10%. † This paper has been designated for the special section Carbon for Energy Storage and Environment Protection.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.