The physisorption of methane in homogeneous armchair open-ended SWBNNT triangular arrays was evaluated using grand canonical ensemble Monte Carlo simulation for tubes 11.08, 13.85, 16.62, and 19.41 Å [(8,8), (10,10), (12,12), and (14,14), respectively] in diameter, at temperatures of 273, 298, 323, and 373 K, and at fugacities of 0.5–9.0 Mpa. The intermolecular forces were modeled using the Lennard– Jones potential model. The absolute, excess, and delivery adsorption isotherms of methane were calculated for the various boron nitride nanotube arrays. The specific surface areas and the isosteric heats of adsorption, Qst, were also studied, different isotherm models were fitted to the simulated adsorption data, and the model parameters were correlated. According to the results, it is possible to reach 108% and 140% of the US Department of Energy’s target for CH4 storage (180 v/v at 298 K and 35 bar) using the SWBNNT array with nanotubes 16.62 and 19.41 Å in diameter, respectively, as adsorbent. The results show that for a van der Waals gap of 3.4 Å, there is no interstitial adsorption except for arrays containing nanotubes with diameters of >15.8 Å. Multilayer adsorption starts to occur in arrays containing nanotubes with diameters of >16.62 Å, and the minimum pressure required for multilayer adsorption is 1.0 MPa. A brief comparison of the methane adsorption capacities of single-walled carbon and boron nitride nanotube arrays was also performed.

Keywords