Activated carbon used in pressure swing adsorption (PSA) systems involves key steps such as pretreatment and filling, adsorption separation, and pressure switching regeneration.

Pretreatment and Filling: New activated carbon undergoes appropriate cleaning and activation to remove impurities and activate its pore structure before being uniformly filled into the adsorption tower.

Adsorption Separation: Under specific pressure, a mixed gas passes through the pellet activated carbon layer. Target components (such as CO₂ and CH₄) are selectively adsorbed, while the purified gas flows out of the system.

Pressure Switching Regeneration: When the activated carbon becomes saturated, the adsorbed components are desorbed by reducing the pressure (pressure reduction) or creating a vacuum, thus regenerating the activated carbon for reuse.

Activated carbon plays a role in PSA systems by adsorbing impurities such as hydrocarbons, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), sulfur compounds, and other impurities from gas streams. In applications such as natural gas purification, hydrogen production, and air separation, activated carbon helps remove unwanted components, allowing the desired gases to pass through or be retained for further use.

Furthermore, the performance of the activated carbon is crucial to the efficiency of PSA. Its preparation typically involves using coal as a raw material and processes such as catalyst addition, molding, carbonization, and activation to optimize micropore distribution and surface functional groups, thereby improving the adsorption selectivity for target gases.

Applications：

Activated carbon is a common adsorbent in PSA systems for gas purification processes across industries like petrochemicals, natural gas processing, and hydrogen production.