Water adsorption with hysteresis effect onto microporous activated carbon fabrics

Understanding the adsorption of water vapor onto activated carbons is important for designing processes to remove dilute contaminants from humid gas streams, such as providing protection against chemical warfare agents (CWAs), or against toxic industrial compounds (TICs) used in a terrorist chemical attack. Water vapor isotherms for Calgon BPL granular activated carbon (GAC), military ASZM-TEDA GAC, electrospun activated carbon nanofibers (ACnF), Calgon Zorflex^™ activated carbon cloth, and Novoloid-based activated carbon fiber cloth (ACFC) are presented. Of particular interest are the ACFC isotherms, which exhibit an unusually high degree of hydrophobicity. The ACFC isotherms also show a correlation between water vapor adsorption hysteresis and the level of activation. Water vapor isotherm models from the literature are compared.