Ordered mesoporous carbon membrane prepared from liquefied larch by a soft method

Abstract Carbon membranes having ordered mesoporous structure were prepared via liquefaction, resinification, assembly and carbonization steps using natural renewable larch sawdust as starting material. The mesopores of the carbon membranes were formed by assembly of larch-based resin with F127 (PEO–PPO–PEO). The mesoporosity was controllable from disordered to ordered by varying the carbonization temperature. Mesoporous carbon membrane with an ordered two-dimensional hexagonal porous structure having P6mm symmetry was obtained at 700 °C. The unique ordered mesoporous structure resulted in the carbon membranes exhibiting high efficiency (permselectivity factor =1.97) for the separation of CO2 from a N2/CO2 mixture.