CO Adsorption Performance of CuCl/Activated Carbon by Simultaneous Reduction–Dispersion of Mixed Cu(II) Salts

CO is a toxic gas discharged as a byproduct in tail gases from different industrial flue gases, which needs to be taken care of urgently. In this study, a CuCl/AC adsorbent was made by a facile route of physically mixing CuCl₂ and Cu(HCOO)₂ powder with activated carbon (AC), followed by heating at 533 K under vacuum. The samples were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES), N₂ adsorption/desorption, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). It was shown that Cu(II) can be completely reduced to Cu(I), and the monolayer dispersion threshold of CuCl on AC support is 4 mmol·g⁻¹ AC. The adsorption isotherms of CO, CO₂, CH₄, and N₂ on CuCl/AC adsorbents were measured by the volumetric method, and the CO/CO₂, CO/CH₄, and CO/N₂ selectivities of the adsorbents were predicted using ideal adsorbed solution theory (IAST). The obtained adsorbent displayed a high CO adsorption capacity, high CO/N₂, CO/CH₄, and CO/CO₂ selectivities, excellent ad/desorption cycle performance, rapid adsorption rate, and appropriate isosteric heat of adsorption, which made it a promising adsorbent for CO separation and purification.