Chapter 10 - Sorption of Gases and Organic Vapors

Abstract

Publisher Summary Polymeric adsorbents, particularly macroporous styrene–divinylbenzene (DVB) copolymers, are free from drawbacks of activated carbons. The heat of adsorption onto the polymeric adsorbents is significantly lower and, accordingly, the regeneration of polymers proceeds under much milder conditions. As a rule, the copolymers have no functional groups that are capable of catalyzing chemical transformation of an adsorbate. However, in contrast to activated carbons, the specific surface area of most polymeric adsorbents is not very high; therefore, their sorption capacity is lower, often making the use of macro-porous polystyrene-type adsorbents unprofitable. This circumstance helps to develop new types of polymeric materials with an enhanced porous structure. This chapter presents four main groups of hypercrosslinked sorbents: Styrosorb 1, Styrosorb 1BP, Styrosorb 2, and hypercrosslinked polystyrene sorbents. The chapter focuses on several aspects of adsorption of gases and organic solvent vapors onto Styrosorbs 1 and 2. Many adsorption experiments are carried out after the development of hypercrosslinked polystyrene materials. These investigations demonstrate distinguishing characteristics of hypercrosslinked polystyrenes and their distinct advantages over other known types of organic and inorganic sorbents, and activated carbons.