Solid-gas adsorption kinetics of the naphthalene on silica and XAD-2

Abstract

Polycyclic aromatics hydrocarbons (PAH) are an important class of pollutants ubiquitous in the environment, being spread from their source to different parts of the world and has already been related to many health issues. Its major font ofproduction is on the burning or pyrolysis of fuels and during asphalt applications. Adsorption process has been used on-air samplers and polluted media remediation and to a better result kinetics information of the process is necessary. A system tomonitor the gas  solid mass transfer was developed to represent the presence of PAH on the air. Adsorption of naphthalene in XAD-2 and silica, as separated adsorbents and as mixtures, were studied and a mixture of them in a proportion of 2:1 XAD-2/silicagave the best results in terms of the mass of PAH adsorbed and process kinetics. Improvements on the system developed have to be made for future experiments with PAH with a higher molecular weight.