A comparative study of CO2, CH4 and N2 adsorption in ZIF-8, Zeolite-13X and BPL activated carbon

► Zeolite-13X shows high selectivity for CO2 over CH4 and N2. ► BPL activated carbon and ZIF-8 is not very selective for CO2. ► Zeolite-13X's CO2 adsorption performance is subtle to the activation process. ► Adsorption of CO2, CH4 and N2 in ZIF-8 is insensitive to the activation temperature.