Adsorption and Electrothermal Desorption of Hazardous Organic Vapors
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 127, Issue 3
Abstract
In 1997, 6.04 × 108 kg of hazardous air pollutants were emitted into the atmosphere from the United States. A bench-scale activated-carbon fiber-cloth adsorption, electrothermal desorption, and condensation system was designed, built, and operated to demonstrate its ability to capture and recover organic hazardous air pollutants from airstreams. The annular-cartridge configuration of the activated-carbon fiber cloth allows low pressure drop and rapid electrothermal regeneration. Adsorption and electrothermal desorption cycling of the system with an airstream containing 1,000 ppmv methyl ethyl ketone (MEK) resulted in closure within 8% by mass. Competitive adsorption between water vapor and MEK reduced MEK adsorption capacity 43% as relative humidity of the gas increased from 4 to 90% at 22°C dry-bulb temperature. Increasing the dry-bulb temperature of the gas stream by 10°C at a constant dew-point temperature resulted in a 37% increase in MEK adsorption compared to the high relative humidity test case, while allowing the water vapor to penetrate the adsorber. The automated system achieves MEK capture efficiency >99.9% by mass while recovering the liquid MEK for reuse.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
1.
Buonicore, A. J., and Davis, W. T., eds. ( 1992). Air pollution engineering manual, Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York.
2.
Foster, K. L., et al. ( 1992). “Adsorption characteristics of trace volatile organic-compounds in gas streams onto activated carbon-fibers.” Chemistry of Mat., 4(5), 1068–1073.
3.
Hayes, J., and Joseph, S. ( 1981). “Novoloid fibers.” Kirk-Othmer: Encyclopedia of chemical technology, Vol. 16, Wiley, New York, 125–138.
4.
Koloutsou-Vakakis, S., et al. ( 1998). “Modeling of aerosol properties related to direct climate forcing.” J. Geophys. Res.—Atmospheres, 103(D14), 17009–17032.
5.
Product brochure, American Kynol.
6.
Lindeburg, M. R. ( 1982). EIT review manual, Professional Publications, San Carlos, Calif.
7.
Lordgooei, M., et al. ( 1996). “Development of an activated carbon fiber cloth adsorption/regeneration system to recover and reuse toxic organic compounds.” Hazardous Waste Research and Information Center: 206, Champaign, Ill.
8.
Nakayama, A., et al. ( 1996). “Electronic and magnetic properties of activated carbon fibers.” Bull. Chemical Soc. of Japan, 69(2), 333–339.
9.
Petkovska, M., et al. ( 1991). “Temperature-swing gas separation with electrothermal desorption step.” Separation Sci. and Technol., 26(3), 425–444.
10.
Ramirez, D., et al. ( 1999). “Adsorption of methyl ethyl ketone and acetone by tire-derived activated carbon and activated carbon fiber cloth.” Proc., A&WMA 93rd Annu. Meeting and Exhibition, A&WMA.
11.
Reid, R. C., et al. ( 1987). The properties of gases and liquids, McGraw-Hill, New York.
12.
Sullivan, P. D., et al. ( 1999). “Design and evaluation of an automated activated carbon fiber cloth adsorption and recovery system for MEK.” Proc., A&WMA 92nd Annu. Meeting and Exhibition, A&WMA.
13.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). ( 1990). “Clean Air Act.” 〈http://www.epa.gov/oar/caa/contents.html〉.
14.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). ( 1998). “1995 TRI public data release overview.” 〈http://www.epa.gov/opptintr/tri/pdr95/drover01.htm〉.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
History
Received: Feb 8, 2000
Published online: Mar 1, 2001
Published in print: Mar 2001
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.