Experimental Study of the Effect of Different Parameters on the Adsorption and Desorption of Trichloroethylene Vapor on Activated Carbon Particles.

Trichloroethylene (TCE) is used as a solvent in various industrial processes. During its use, TCE vaporizes and its vapor pollutes the working atmosphere. Its recovery is very important and activated carbon may be used for this purpose. In the present study, experiments were conducted with activated carbon particles for adsorption and desorption of TCE vapor. The adsorption isotherms were measured over a temperature range of 30-100 °C. Also, the effects of particle sizes ( ; 355, 500, and 710 μm), initial concentration of TCE vapor (100, 150, 200, and 250 ppm), and temperature (30, 50, and 100 °C) on the adsorption isotherms of TCE on activated carbon with air as the carrier stream were investigated, which were not reported earlier. From the experimental results, it was found that as the particle size decreases the adsorption capacity increases because of the increase in surface area with decrease in size of particles. The effect of the initial concentration of TCE vapor showed proportionality with adsorption capacity. The increase in temperature showed increase in the adsorption capacity. The adsorption isotherms obtained from the experimental results were compared with model isotherms viz. Langmuir and Freundlich. The Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models showed accurate fits with values of 0.99067 and 0.99142, respectively, suggesting a hybrid adsorption mechanism involving monolayer and multilayer adsorption. From the desorption study, it was found that the recovery of TCE-vapor from activated carbon is possible, and hence its reuse. This study confirms the suitability of activated carbon as an adsorbent for the removal of TCE vapors emitted from industrial and domestic sources. The details of the experiments and results are discussed in this article.