Preparation, characterization, and performance of activated carbon for CO2 adsorption from CI engine exhaust

Mitigation of carbon dioxide (CO2) from various sources is a major challenge in the world today. Apart from attempts to control CO2 emissions from large CO2 emitting sources such as coal‐fired power plants and significant fossil fuel‐consuming industries, there have also been attempts made to control CO2 in internal combustion (IC) engines. Compression ignition (CI) engines find their applications mainly in automotive vehicles, decentralized power generation units, standby power requirements in hospitals and educational institutions. In recent years, there has been a great interest in developing eco‐friendly and low‐cost adsorbents for CO2 capture via the adsorption method. This investigation explores the possibility of using activated carbon obtained from coconut shell for capturing CO2 in a CI engine exhaust. Surface texture characteristics and physicochemical properties of the coconut shell‐based activated carbon are determined for their suitability as a potential adsorbent for CO2 adsorption. Furthermore, an attempt is made to combine a postcombustion carbon capture device in a CI engine. For this purpose, an in‐house fabricated adsorption chamber is packed with activated carbon and attached to a single‐cylinder, four‐stroke, naturally aspirated, direct injection (DI) diesel engine exhaust. The test engine is operated on two different fuels; (i) diesel (D100) and (ii) biodiesel‐diesel blend comprising 20% of Jatropha methyl ester (JME) and 80% of diesel (JME20). The engine performance and CO2 emission without and with the adsorption chamber are evaluated for D100 and JME20 operations. Further, the performance parameters of the adsorption chamber packed with activated carbon are also evaluated in both fuel operations. The results are analyzed, discussed, and presented in this paper. © 2022 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.