Abstract
Activated carbon fibers (ACF) were used to adsorb ppmv concentrations of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from laboratory generated gas streams. VOCs considered were benzene and acetone because the VOC are commonly found in indoor air and have potential to increase health risks to humans. ACF were used as the adsorbent because they typically exhibit higher adsorption capacities and faster adsorption kinetics than commercially available granular activated carbons (GAC) and show potential as an adsorbent to effectively remove VOCs from indoor air. Adsorption models by Dubinin and coworkers (Dubinin, 1975), based on the theory of volume filling of micropores, and an empirical model by Freundlich were used to fit the measured adsorption isotherms. Agreement between the modeled and experimental results for acetone and benzene using the Dubinin‐Radushkevich equation generally improved with increasing BET surface area and produced reasonable fits of the adsorption isotherms for both acetone and benzene. The Freundlich equation produced values for correlation coefficients (R) between modeled and experimental data from 0.980 to 0.997, indicating the validity of using the Freundlich equation to model the adsorption isotherms over the concentration range of interest. These results indicate that ACF show potential as an adsorbent for removing low concentrations of VOCs from indoor air.
Original language | English (US) |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 26-30 |
Number of pages | 5 |
Journal | Environmental Progress |
Volume | 13 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Feb 1994 |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Environmental Science