Carbon molecular sieves possess unique microporous structures and adsorption properties, finding significant applications in various fields. Here are its main application areas:
Gas Separation and Purification
- Air Separation for Nitrogen Production: Carbon molecular sieves are widely used in pressure swing adsorption (PSA) for nitrogen production. Leveraging the difference in its adsorption capacity for oxygen and nitrogen, under a certain pressure, it preferentially adsorbs impurity gases like oxygen, thereby obtaining high – purity nitrogen. It is extensively applied in industries such as chemicals, electronics, food, and pharmaceuticals. For example, it serves as a protective gas in chemical production, a purging gas in electronic chip manufacturing, and a filling gas in food packaging.
- Hydrogen Purification: It can be used to recover and purify hydrogen from mixed gases such as coke oven gas and water gas. By adsorbing and removing impurities like carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and methane, it provides high – purity hydrogen for processes such as fuel cells and petrochemical hydrogenation.
- Carbon Dioxide Capture: In the fields of industrial waste gas treatment and carbon emission reduction, carbon molecular sieves can be used to capture carbon dioxide. They selectively adsorb carbon dioxide from combustion exhaust gases and industrial emissions, contributing to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and providing a prerequisite for the resource utilization of carbon dioxide.
Air Purification
- Removal of Odors and Harmful Gases: In air purifiers and ventilation systems, carbon molecular sieves can effectively adsorb harmful gases such as formaldehyde, benzene, sulfur dioxide, hydrogen sulfide, and various odors in the air, improving indoor air quality and safeguarding human health.
- Industrial Air Purification: In industrial production environments such as chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and electronics, it is used to purify the air, removing impurity gases that may affect product quality or the production process, ensuring the cleanliness of the production environment.
Water Treatment
- Removal of Organic Compounds: It can adsorb organic pollutants in water, such as pesticides, dyes, and petroleum – based substances. It conducts in – depth treatment of industrial and domestic sewage, improving water quality to meet discharge standards or reuse requirements.
- Removal of Heavy Metal Ions: Some carbon molecular sieves modified in a special way can adsorb heavy metal ions in water, such as lead, mercury, cadmium, and chromium, achieving the removal of heavy metals from water bodies and reducing the degree of water pollution.
Other Fields
- Chemical Separation and Purification: In the petrochemical and fine – chemical industries, it is used to separate and purify various organic compounds. For example, it can separate hydrocarbons with different carbon numbers from mixed hydrocarbons and isolate target products and by – products from organic reaction products.
- Pharmaceutical Field: In the pharmaceutical production process, it is used for the separation and purification of pharmaceutical intermediates, as well as the impurity removal and refinement of drugs, improving the quality and purity of pharmaceuticals.
- Food and Beverage Industry: It is used for the purification and impurity removal of food and beverages. For instance, it can remove odors and impurities in the production of alcoholic beverages and adsorb pigments and harmful substances during the refining process of edible oils.
