Silicones are a class of man-made organosilicon compounds used in a variety of industrial and household applications, such as pharmaceuticals and personal care products. The widespread use of these products has led to a significant increase in siloxane levels in wastewater and landfills. Therefore, biogases produced from the above sources contain siloxanes. Combustion of siloxane-containing biogas produces abrasive microcrystalline silica, which can cause serious damage, destruction and reduced efficiency to engines, turbines, fuel cells and catalysts, so siloxane removal is important to improve biogas purity. However, biogas contains a large number of competing compounds, including siloxanes, volatile organic compounds, hydrogen sulfide and other sulfides. Physical adsorption of siloxanes poses a difficult problem for efficient energy recovery from this renewable resource due to competitive adsorption kinetics.

Our activated carbon preferentially adsorbs siloxanes rather than the high calorific value volatile organic compounds commonly found in biogas. Additionally, the surface chemistry of activated carbon allows it to more effectively capture high molecular weight siloxanes and difficult-to-remove low molecular weight compounds.