LAUSR

Abstract Separation of CO 2 from CH 4 -rich streams is an important separation for upgrading biogas and natural gas. The main difference between these two sources of methane is the pressure at which they are available. In order to design an adsorption process without extrapolating data, it is necessary to measure the behaviour of the adsorbent in the current conditions. In this work, adsorption properties of CH 4 and CO 2 on a commercial carbon molecular sieve (CMS) material are reported. Adsorption equilibrium of pure gases at 298 and 343 K were measured until 70 bar for CH 4 and 30 bar for CO 2 . In order to determine the performance of the adsorbent using a real mixture, binary breakthrough curves (10% CO 2 –90% CH 4 ) were measured at 314 K at pressures from 5 to 70 bar. A mathematical model was used to interpret the data obtained.