Carbon dioxide filtration through sustainable carbon carbon composite filters

Sustainable use of composites is an issue of foremost importance in our days. Recycled carbon fibers, produced from scrapped polymeric composites, can be utilized in new applications to provide a sustainable approach to new product manufacturing, in combination with cost reduction. Their chopped nature comprises a unique base material for Carbon Carbon Composite filters. These filters are suitable for filtration of CO₂, hydrocarbons, and airborne particulate matter [1, 2]. In this research, phenolic resin is mixed with chopped recycled carbon fibers, cured, and pyrolyzed at elevated temperature and in an inert environment, forming the Carbon Carbon Composite. Carbon Carbon Composite activation hereupon takes place in an oxidizing environment of helium or CO₂ at elevated temperature [3, 4]. This process produces a high porosity carbon filter with a large adsorption area, CO₂ affinity, low density, high regeneration rates, and high thermal and chemical stability. Carbon Carbon filters can be regenerated by desorption due to their high electrical conductivity, when they sequester CO₂. Accordingly, filters can be reinfused after each CO2 absorption, with additional phenolic resins reinforced with progressively shorter and shorter freshly recycled carbon fibers, down to the carbon nanotube (CNT) scale [5], providing an increasingly larger and larger surface area.