Lin He
Tianjin University, China
Title: Removal and recovery of volatile organic compounds from gas streams
Biography
Biography: Lin He
Abstract
Volatile organic compounds (VOCs), including acetone, toluene, benzene, xylene, chlorinated hydrocarbons, kerosene, etc., are widely involved in industrial processes and house decorations. Many of the VOCs have been detected to cause photochemical smog and haze in cities, and even to be toxic to human beings as well, leading to health threats, such as sensory irritation symptoms, severe respiratory systems or metabolic disorder. Therefore, the removal and recovery of the VOCs from gas streams are extremely crucial and have been considered as one of the major challenges in chemical related industries and daily life. In this study, an energy-saving set-up of pressure swing adsorption has been designed and applied to investigating the adsorption-desorption profiles of high concentrations of toluene vapor (>10000 ppm) on activated carbons and silica gel at ambient temperature. Results show that the adsorption of the toluene vapor on both the activated carbon and silica gel matches the Langmuir-Freundlich model. The vacuum desorption tests were carried out to recover the absorbed VOCs. Results demonstrate that the desorption rate and extent of the absorbed toluene from the silica gel are much higher than those of activated carbon due to its lower surface area and smaller pore volume. These findings suggest that the silica gel is the best candidate for the removal and recovery of high concentrations of toluene vapor from gas stream through normal adsorption and vacuum desorption combined process at ambient temperature.