Abstract
A semi‒pilot-scale adsorption reactor was fabricated to remove a volatile organic compound (VOC) gases mixture (BTEX). Activated carbon (AC) was immobilized by coating it on stainless steel plates using a polyvinyl acetate (PVA) binder, and the open-pore structure was maintained after the coating process. Parallelly aligned plates coated with AC minimized the decrease in pressure by inducing smooth fluid flow and maintained a high removal efficiency even at a high linear velocity. The order of the capacities for adsorption was: xylene > ethyl benzene > toluene > benzene, which was due to their differences in hydrophobicity and molecular weight. The adsorption-desorption process was performed for five successive cycles. The efficiency of removal was evidently the same for all cycles, which makes this reactor a sustainable one.
Highlights
Expeditious industrialization and urbanization have led to the escalation of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) being emitted into the environment
VOCs comprise a range of carbon-based chemicals that evaporate at room temperature and are organic compounds having Reid vapor pressures of more than 10.3 Pa at normal pressure (101.325 kPa) and temperature (293.15 K)
The decreased values for the ACPs were due to the blockage of a portion of the Activated carbon (AC) molecules that adhered to the surface of the stainless steel ACPs
Summary
Expeditious industrialization and urbanization have led to the escalation of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) being emitted into the environment. VOC emissions come from many indoor and outdoor sources, which can be natural as well as anthropogenic (Calton et al, 2010). The indoor sources include printers, heat-exchange systems, household products, office supplies, pressed woods, insulating materials, pipe leakage, and wood stoves. The outdoor sources consist mainly of food processing, paper production, paint drying, petroleum refineries, transportation, chemical industries, textile manufacturing, electronic component manufacturing, cleaning products, metal degreasing, solvents, and automobiles (Drobek et al, 2015; Liotta, 2010; Scire and Liotta, 2012; Ozturk and Yilmaz, 2006). VOCs comprise a range of carbon-based chemicals that evaporate at room temperature and are organic compounds having Reid vapor pressures of more than 10.3 Pa at normal pressure (101.325 kPa) and temperature (293.15 K).
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