Effects of activated carbon surface properties on the adsorption of volatile organic compounds

Abstract

Physical and chemical properties of activated carbon (AC) were analyzed to investigate the effects of adsorbate properties on AC adsorption performance. Fixed-bed adsorption experiments were conducted with toluene, acetone, and xylene as adsorbates. From the results, the adsorption capacities of the three adsorbates had the following order: xylene > toluene > acetone. The correlation between experimental data and adsorbate properties was also analyzed. The results showed that different functional groups corresponding to the properties of adsorbates influenced the adsorptive properties of AC differently. The adsorption capacity of AC increased linearly as the molecular weight, dynamic diameter, boiling point, and density of the adsorbate increased. However, adsorption capacity decreased as the polarity index and vapor pressure of the adsorbate increased. For adsorption onto three types of AC, the adsorption energies of the three adsorbates had the following order: xylene > toluene > acetone.

Implications:

This paper focused on the research on adsorption behavior of activated carbon based on adsorbate properties. Adsorption experiments were conducted under the same condition while the adsorbates were toluene, acetone, and xylene, respectively. Correlation analysis between experimental data and adsorbate properties was conducted. The different groups have different influence on the adsorptive properties of ACs. The adsorption capacity of activated carbon increases with the increase of adsorbate molecular weight, dynamic diameter, boiling point, and density, and that this relationship is linear. The relationship between adsorption capacity and the polarity index and vapor pressure of adsorbate shows an opposite trend, and the adsorption capacities and adsorption energies of three kinds of activated carbon for these three adsorbates had the following order: xylene > toluene > acetone.

Acknowledgments

The research is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (20676154, 20976200), the MOST of China APEC Cooperation Funds, and the Fundamental Research Funds for the China Central Universities.