Abstract—In recent years, attention has been drawn towards decreasing the effusion of anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO 2 ). CO 2 sequestration is one approach used to reduce its concentration in the atmosphere. This is often the case in deep and inaccessible coal seams where underground storage techniques i.e., flue gas and CO 2 injection under feeds of subcritical and supercritical settings are required. In a bid to reducing carbon footprints, subcritical CO 2 affinity of two sample coal types (sample A-anthracite and sample B- bituminous) in South Africa was evaluated from adsorbates of flue gas and pure CO 2 . Volumetric approach using 35˚C and 5MPa was used to measure the attraction/adsorption isotherms of the flue gas and pure CO 2 respectively. Measurements were carried out on 5g samples all passing the 2.36mm American standard sieve size while the flue gas was simulated from industrial coal fired plant having CO 2 = 96.2%, O 2 = 1.5% and N 2 = 2.3% in a high pressure CO 2 volumetric adsorption apparatus. From the generated data, regression models for attraction isotherm were used to resolve the fitness of coal as CO 2 adsorbent. Thus from the study, it was realized that the coal attraction of CO 2 was not notably altered on introduction of other gases. However, sample-A showed a higher adsorption capacity over sample-B, as has been recorded from similar studies. The data herein could therefore, add to the basis for assessing flue gas and pure CO 2 sequestration on South African coal. Keywords—Flue gas, Coal, Subcritical, Industrialization, Pure CO 2 I. INTRODUCTION HE issues on global warming and environmental changes has been a major concern for most countries in recent years. Changes in ocean currents, volcanic emissions and most especially greenhouse gas effects amongst others are insistently impacting the environment. It has become established that rising levels of atmospheric greenhouse gas from industrial and other anthropogenic activities is drastically altering the global climate system with consequential effects on the health of the environment and inhabitants. As notably Manuscript received July 10, 2015; revised August 04, 2015. Emmanuel Emem-Obong Agbenyeku is a research student at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa (phone: +27 11 559 6396; e-mail: kobitha2003@yahoo.com; emmaa@uj.ac.za). Edison Muzenda is a Professor of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering and Head of Department of Chemical, Materials and Metallurgical Engineering, College of Engineering and Technology, Botswana International University of Science and Technology, Private Mail Bag 16, Palapye, Botswana, as well as visiting Professor at the University of Johannesburg, Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, Johannesburg, P.O.Box 17011, 2028, South Africa (phone: +27 11 559 6817; e-mail: emuzenda@uj.ac.za; muzendae@biust.ac.bw). Innocent Mandla Msibi is Executive Director of the Research and Innovation Division, University of Johannesburg, South Africa (phone: +27 11 559 6280; e-mail: mimsibi@uj.ac.za). recorded by [1] anthropogenic CO 2 effusion is in the frontline of this dreadful impact causing the warming of the earth’s atmosphere. On one hand, global industrialization and technological growth in recent times have seen CO 2 effusion from flue gases and other sources rapidly increase such that; between 1800 and 2010, atmospheric CO 2 levels rose from ≥ 280 to ≥ 379ppm as reported by [2]. Also, the concentration of atmospheric CO 2 is estimated to cause 1.5-4.5ºC surface warming if allowed to double, with the fear that fossil fuel burning could trigger two to three times this effect if not radically controlled [3]. On the other hand, human activities emit CO 2 quit lesser than large natural cycles exchanging CO 2 between the atmosphere, oceans, and terrestrial biosphere. However, as stated by [4] it is clear that the ability for natural systems to absorb the total effusions experienced is insufficient. As such, an optional approach to tackle these insistent environmental challenges through sequestration and isolation of CO 2 is imperative. CO 2 sequestration in deep and inaccessible coal seams appears a cost reduction factor for most mines but most especially, a potential approach to curbing the hazardous emission of CO 2 to the surface. A total estimated CO 2 storage capacity in the South African coal fields is 1271.9Mt as reported by [5] from a geological survey. Although this is based on techno-economics, it must be ensured that stringent measures are taken into mining these coal beds in the future. As reported by [6] South Africa at a time had no obligatory observance of greenhouse gas reduction as it conformed to the Kyoto Protocol as a non- Annex I country. Nevertheless, that protocol was to end in 2013 with considerable pressure from developed countries on non-Annex I countries to develop ways of decreasing effusion of greenhouse gas as per the Kyoto Protocol [7]. In a bid for carbon capture and isolation, it was pertinent to ascertain in- country potentials which according to [8] Department of Minerals and Energy through CSIR showed that the country was up to the task. In this light, few projects have considered the direct injection of flue gases from power plants and other anthropogenic activities. This gave the study the impetus to investigate the adsorption behaviour of CO 2 on two South African coal types with introduced impurities fed as simulated flue gas. II. CONCEPTUAL AND EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH A. Testing Method and Setup A Volumetric approach using 35˚C and 5MPa was used to measure the attraction/adsorption isotherms of the flue gas and pure CO 2 on the two (anthracite and Bituminous) tested coal Simulated Flue Gas Feed on Coals for Attraction of Subcritical CO 2 Emmanuel Emem-Obong Agbenyeku, Edison Muzenda and Innocent Mandla Msibi T Proceedings of the World Congress on Engineering and Computer Science 2015 Vol II WCECS 2015, October 21-23, 2015, San Francisco, USA ISBN: 978-988-14047-2-5 ISSN: 2078-0958 (Print); ISSN: 2078-0966 (Online) WCECS 2015