Carbon molecular
sieves (CMS)

Carbon Molecular Sieves

CarboTech is recognized worldwide as an innovator in high-quality carbon-based adsorbents. One of our developments is carbon molecular sieves – materials designed for the kinetic separation of gases. Different diffusion rates of the mixture components in the CMS pore system thus enable effective separation of the gases. This means that the separation of gas mixtures is possible due to different diffusion rates between different components in the CMS pore system. High selectivity is achieved by the intentionally narrowed micropores of the adsorbent.

To utilize the full potential of CMS materials, they are used in pressure swing adsorption (PSA/VSA) units. The typical set-up consists of two or more adsorber columns filled with CMS adsorbent. The columns alternate between adsorption mode at higher pressure and desorption mode at lower pressure, thus producing a product gas stream of high purity. The cycle time plays an essential role here, as the contact time between gas and CMS material controls the separation selectivity.

The use of CMS materials has been proven in industry for many different gas separations, for example:

• Air separation for nitrogen production
• Biogas upgrading, especially carbon dioxide removal from biomethane
• Landfill gas upgrading, especially nitrogen removal from biomethane
• Carbon dioxide removal from flue gases
• Separation of propylene-propane mixtures
• Recovery of green hydrogen from methane pipelines
• Separation of oxygen and argon

Robust, durable Carbon Molecular Sieves

CarboTech markets products from OSAKA Gas Chemicals. It does so exclusively in Europe, India, and the Middle East.

• CMS is produced from high-quality coconut shells, a renewable biomass source. It is therefore a sustainable and environmentally friendly material that has a significantly lower carbon footprint than other CMS on the market.
• The nominal pellet size is large enough to allow for an acceptable pressure drop along the adsorber columns, thus achieving the most favorable separation performance regardless of the PSA unit size.
• CMS have excellent mechanical stability, which is particularly important in the case of pressure fluctuations, as these exert a considerable impact force on the material. For this reason, PSA systems filled with our CMS can be operated for many years without changing the material.

Innovation made in Essen

And that’s not all: our dedicated research and development team is continuously developing further applications for CMS. We benefit from our decades of experience in this area. We are always in close contact with our customers regarding the possible uses, adaptation and design of the product. This means we know exactly what the market needs and can deliver customized solutions.

Optimized processes and thorough quality control are a matter of course for us. We supply our customers with highly efficient CMS. And, of course, with the best price-performance ratio.