Electrothermal-swing adsorption with novel morphologies of activated carbon adsorbents for the capture and recovery of hazardous air pollutants

The application of electrothermal-swing adsorption with novel morphologies of activated carbon adsorbents, i.e., activated carbons in the form of a monolith (ACM), beads (ACB), and fiber cloth (ACFC), for the capture and recovery of hazardous air pollutants was studied. Pressure drop was linearly dependent on superficial gas velocity with the ACM having the smallest pressure drop attributed to ACMs well designed open channels. The morphology of ACM allowed gas streams to flow through easier with the largest permeability value when compared to the ACB and ACFC adsorbents. ACFC had 400% and 67% larger adsorption capacity than ACM and ACB, respectively, at a toluene relative pressure of 0.2. ACFCs adsorption capacity for toluene was 100 and 15% higher than ACM and ACB, respectively, at a relative pressure of 0.9. The lower adsorption capacity of ACM was attributed to its smaller specific pore volume. Dimensionless breakthrough curves for ACM, ACB, and ACFC showed similar profiles regardless of the tested inlet toluene concentration and superficial gas velocity. This is an abstract of a paper presented at the AWMA's 99th Annual Conference and Exhibition (New Orleans, LA 6/20-23/2006).