Carbon 14 (14C) is radioactive isotope of carbon which emits beta ray with long half-life (5730±30 years). Since the 14C is significantly hazardous for human being, the appropriate process to treat 14C is necessary. From the nuclear power plant, the ion exchange resin, graphite, and activated carbon are the main source of 14C. During the effort to reduce the volume of those wastes, the 14C is inevitably occurred as carbon dioxide (CO2) form, so called 14CO2. Thus, the development of technology to permanently capture and safely dispose 14CO2 is required. In this presentation, we introduce the decommissioning technology ranging from 14CO2 capture to solidification. First, the new class of glass adsorbent is developed which can irreversibly capture CO2 even under mild conditions. This material promotes the dissolution of alkaline earth ions due to the unstable glass structure. Then, the physical and chemical optimization of glass adsorbent enhances the performance of CO2 capture. Further, room temperature geopolymeric solidification is also performed to safely dispose 14C without any potential release.

Nuclear power plants use ion exchange resins to purify liquid radioactive waste generated while operating nuclear power plants. In the case of PHWR, ion exchange resins are used in heavy water and dehydration systems, liquid waste treatment systems, and heavy water washing systems, and the used ion exchange resins are stored in waste resin storage tanks. The C-14 radioactivity concentration in the waste resin currently stored at the Wolseong Nuclear Power Plant is 4.6×106 Bq/g, exceeding the low-level limit, and if all is disposed of, it is 1.48×1015 Bq, exceeding the total limit of 3.04×1014 Bq of C-14 in the first stage disposal facility. Therefore, disposal is not possible at domestic low/medium-level disposal facilities. In addition, since the heavy water reactor waste resin mixture is stored at a ratio of about 20% activated carbon and zeolite mixture and about 80% waste resin, mixture extraction and separation technology and C-14 desorption and adsorption technology are required. Accordingly, research and development has been conducted domestically on methods to treat heavy water waste resin, but the waste resin mixture separation method is complex and inefficient, and there are limitations in applying it to the field due to the scale of the equipment being large compared to the field work space. Therefore, we would like to introduce a resin treatment technology that complements the problems of previous research. Previously, the waste resin mixture was extracted from the upper manhole and inspection hole of the storage tank, but in order to improve limitations such as worker safety, cost, and increased work time, the SRHS, which was planned at the time of nuclear power plant design, is utilized. In addition, by capturing high-purity 14CO2 in a liquid state in a high-pressure container, it ensures safety for long-term storage and is easy to handle when necessary, maximizing management efficiency. In addition, the modularization of the waste resin separation and withdrawal process from the storage tank, C-14 desorption and monitoring process, high-concentration 14CO2 capture and storage process, and 14CO2 adsorption process enables separation of each process, making it applicable to narrow work spaces. When this technology is used to treat waste resin mixtures in PHWR, it is expected to demonstrate its value as customized, high-efficiency equipment that can secure field applicability and safety and reflect the diverse needs of consumers according to changes in the working environment.

In this work, subabul wood biomass was used to prepare carbon adsorbents by physical and chemical activation methods at various carbonization temperatures. The properties of the carbon adsorbents were estimated through characterization techniques such as X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X–ray photo electron spectroscopy, laser Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, CHNS-elemental analysis and N2 adsorption studies. Subabul-derived carbon adsorbents were used for CO2 capture in the temperature range of 25–70 °C. A detailed adsorption kinetic study was also carried out. The characterization results indicated that these carbons contain high surface area with microporosity. Surface properties were depended on treatment method and carbonization temperature. Among the carbons, the carbon prepared after treatment of H3PO4 and carbonization at 800 °C exhibited high adsorption capacity of 4.52 m.mol/g at 25 °C. The reason for high adsorption capacity of the adsorbents was explained based on their physicochemical characteristics. The adsorbents showed easy desorption and recyclability up to ten cycle with consistent activity.

Porous carbons are considered promising for CO2 capture due to their high-pressure capture performance, high chemical/ thermal stability, and low humidity sensitivity. But, their low-pressure capture performance, selectivity toward CO2 over N2, and adsorption kinetics need further improvement for practical applications. Herein, we report a novel dual-templating strategy based on molten salts (LiBr/KBr) and hydrogen-bonded triazine molecules (melamine–cyanuric acid complex, MCA) to prepare high-performance porous carbon adsorbents for low-pressure CO2. The comprehensive investigations of pore structure, microstructure, and chemical structure, as well as their correlation with CO2 capture performance, reveal that the dual template plays the role of porogen for multi-hierarchical porous structure based on supermicro-/micro-/meso-/ macro-pores and reactant for high N/O insertion into the carbon framework. Furthermore, they exert a synergistic but independent effect on the carbonization procedure of glucose, avoiding the counter-balance between porous structure and hetero-atom insertion. This enables the preferred formation of pyrrolic N/carboxylic acid functional groups and supermicropores of ~ 0.8 nm, while retaining the micro-/meso-/macro-pores (> 1 nm) more than 60% of the total pore volume. As a result, the dual-templated porous carbon adsorbent (MG-Br-600) simultaneously achieves a high CO2 capture capacity of 3.95 mmol g− 1 at 850 Torr and 0 °C, a CO2/ N2 (15:85) selectivity factor of 31 at 0 °C, and a high intra-particle diffusivity of 0.23 mmol g− 1 min− 0.5 without performance degradation over repeated use. With the molecular scale structure tunability and the large-scale production capability, the dual-templating strategy will offer versatile tools for designing high-performance carbon-based adsorbents for CO2 capture.

Here, we report the preparation of microporous-activated carbons from a Brazilian natural lignocellulosic agricultural waste, cupuassu shell, by pyrolysis at 500 ºC and KOH activation under different experimental conditions and their subsequent application as adsorbent for CO2 capture. The effect of the KOH:precursor ratio (wt/wt%) and the activation temperature on the porous texture of activated carbons have been studied. The values of specific surface area ranged from 1132 to 2486 m2/ g, and the overall micropore volume ranged from 0.73 to 1.02 cm3/ g. Carbons activated with 2:1 ratio of KOH and activation temperature of 700 ºC presented a CO2 adsorption at 1 bar of 7.8 and 4.4 mmol/g at 0 °C and 25 ºC, respectively. The isosteric heat of adsorption, Qst , was calculated for all samples by applying the Clausius–Clapeyron approach to CO2 adsorption isotherms at both temperatures. The values of CO2 adsorption capacities are among the highest reported in the literature, especially for activated carbons produced from biomass.

Global warming and climate changes are the ultimate consequences of increased CO2 volume in the air. Physical activation was used to prepare high-throughput activated carbon from a low-cost date stone. The adsorption performance of activated carbon using fixed bed for CO2 separation was studied. The reliance of temperature, flow rate, and initial CO2 concentration levels on breakthrough behaviour was analysed. The adsorption response was explored in terms of breakthrough and saturation points, adsorption capacity, temperature profiles, utilization factor, and length of mass-transfer zone. Increased temperatures lead to vary the breakthrough periods notably. The vastly steep breakthrough curves reveal satisfactory utilization of bed capacity. LMTZ is varied positively with increased feed rates and temperatures. The high utilization factor of 0.9738 with 1.66 mmol/g CO2 uptake was acquired at 298 K and 0.25 bars. The findings recommend that the carbon prepared from date stone is encouraging to capture CO2 from CO2/ N2 mixture.

Increasing ambient carbon dioxide ( CO2) concentration from anthropogenic greenhouse gas emission has contributed to the growing rate of global land and ocean surface temperature. Various carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies were established to mitigate this impending issue. CO2 adsorption is gaining prominence since unlike traditional chemical absorption, it does not require high energy usage for solvent regeneration and consumption of corrosive chemical solvent. In CO2 adsorption, activated carbons show high CO2 adsorption capacity given their well-developed porous structures. Numerous researches employed oil palm wastes as low-cost precursors. This paper provides a comprehensive assessment of research works available thus far in oil palm-derived activated carbon (OPdAC) for CO2 adsorption application. First, we present the desired OPdAC characteristics and its precursors in terms of their chemical properties, elemental, and proximate compositions. This is followed by an overview of various activation methodologies and surface modification methods to attain the desired characteristics for CO2 adsorption. Then the focus turned to present available OPdAC CO2 adsorption performance and how it is affected by its physical and chemical characteristics. Based on these, we identify the challenges and the potential development in different aspects such as precursor selection, process development, and optimization of parameter. A pilot scale production cost analysis is also presented to compare various activation and surface modification methods, so that the appropriate method can be selected for CO2 adsorption.