Adsorption of toluene onto activated carbon fibre cloths and felts: application to indoor air treatment.
Due to their bad effects on human health, removing Volatile Organic Compounds from indoor air has become an issue of major interest. In this study, the potential use of six commercial activated carbon felts and cloths for indoor toluene removal was investigated. Both batch and dynamic adsorption studies were performed, at toluene concentrations ranging from 21 to 18160 mg m(-3), for an air velocity representative of indoor air treatment (0.37 m s(-1)). Batch measurements showed that felts exhibited higher adsorption capacities at equilibrium than cloths at high toluene concentrations, whereas this trend may be inverted at low concentrations. Experimental isotherms and kinetics were satisfactorily fitted by the Langmuir-Freundlich model and the Linear Driving Force model respectively. No main differences between the adsorption kinetics of felts and cloths were reported. Dynamic adsorption capacities at saturation appeared to be higher than 120 mg g(-1) for both cloths and felts, irrespective of relative humidity levels and toluene concentrations. The influence of relative humidity on the adsorption capacity of felts was not significant for the higher toluene concentration studied in dynamics (307 mg m(-3)), whereas an increase in relative humidity induced a decrease in adsorption capacity at the lower toluene concentration (38 mg m(-3)). Moreover, experimental curves of breakthrough time versus thickness of medium were satisfactorily fitted by the Adams-Bohart model, and the critical thickness determined by this model appeared to be below 1.3 mm, regardless of the medium or toluene concentration.
Lorimier
C
C
Ecole des Mines de Nantes, GEPEA, UMR CNRS 6144, 4 rue A. Kastler, BP 20 722, 44 307 Nantes 3, France.
Subrenat
A
A
Le Coq
L
L
Le Cloirec
P
P
D000327:Adsorption; D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D016902:Air Pollution, Indoor / Q000517:prevention & control*; D002244:Carbon / Q000737:chemistry*; D006813:Humidity; D007700:Kinetics; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D013784:Textiles; D014050:Toluene / Q000737:chemistry*
D000393:Air Pollutants; D014050:Toluene; D002244:Carbon