Methane storage in wet activated carbon: Studies on the charging/discharging process

The dynamic behavior of charging/discharging methane onto/from water-preloaded activated carbon was studied at different conditions. It was shown that methane hydrate could form quickly in the porous space of carbon at the condition of 275 K and pressures beginning with 4.12 MPa. The stored methane could be continuously released at a constant flowrate for the whole discharging process. The packing density of 0.6 g cm−3 seemed optimal for the wet carbon tested, which yielded 152 V/V of released methane at charging pressure of 8 MPa. The thermal effect observed on the charging/discharging process was low and did not affect the effective storage capacity.