Application of silica/carbon nanotubes nanocomposites as adsorbent in gas separations

Separation of the gaseous mixture is important,specialy in processing natural gas, methane, and the fermentation product or for the sequestration of CO2, CO, N2, O2 and CH4.One of the new reported materials for this separation is carbon nanotubes (CNTs).In particular,the exceptional mechanical properties of CNTs(E=1.8 TPa)[1],combined with their low density(about 2.0 g cm-3)[2],offer scope for the development of nanotube reinforced composite materials.moreover,sio2 can be used in many fields.In the present work, we investigate fabrication CNTs-SiO2 composites by sol gel process and report the efficiency of this good absorbent for the separation of the gases in analytical instruments as gas chromatography(GC) and the use of this absorbent for the pressure swing adsorption(PSA) in the industrial scale is also investigated