Heats of adsorption and adsorption heterogeneity for methane, ethane, and carbon dioxide in MCM-41.

We report the adsorption isotherms and the isosteric heats of adsorption of pure methane, ethane, and CO2 and a mixture of methane and CO2 in the periodic mesoporous silica MCM-41 using a multicomponent adsorption calorimeter of the Tian-Calvet type, looking in particular at the degree of heterogeneity in the adsorption of these species. The adsorption of methane and ethane in MCM-41 was found to be essentially homogeneous, while the adsorption of pure CO2 and of CO2 from a CO2/methane mixture was found to be significantly heterogeneous, reflecting the electrostatic interactions between CO2 and the adsorbent.