Measurement and correlation of adsorption equilibria of propylene glycol monomethyl ether acetate on activated carbon in the presence of supercritical carbon dioxide

Abstract

The adsorption equilibria of propylene glycol monomethyl ether acetate (PGMEA), a major volatile organic compound (VOC) used in the semiconductor industry, on activated carbon were measured in the presence of supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO2) at temperatures from 313 K to 353 K and pressures from 10.0 MPa to 20.0 MPa. The amount of adsorbed PGMEA considerably depended on the pressure and temperature conditions in scCO2, which could be explained by the effects of CO2 density and VOC fugacity. The Dubinin–Astakhov (DA) equation has two fitting parameters, interaction energy between adsorbate and adsorbent (EVOC) and saturated adsorption capacity of VOC on adsorbent (W0,VOC), and was used to correlate the measured adsorption equilibria. Correlation by the DA equation was useful for analyzing the adsorption equilibria of PGMEA on activated carbon in scCO2 by considering the affinity of the adsorbate for the adsorbent and competitive adsorption of CO2.