Adsorption dynamics of water vapor on activated carbon

The effect of relative humidity on the adsorption of trichloroethylene (TCE) as a representative VOC, was investigated under the practical relative humidity (RH) range of 40-80%. Adsorption equilibria of water and TCE vapors were measured at 293.15, 303.15, and 313.15 K using gravimetric technique. Dubinin-Astakov (DA) and Sips isotherms correlated the measured adsorption data well over the whole pressure range. To investigate the effect of competitive adsorption between water and TCE vapors on hydrophobic activated carbon, adsorption and desorption breakthrough curves were conducted under various humidity conditions in a fixed-bed column. It was found that, under the experimental conditions studied, water vapor in the TCE stream had little effect on the adsorption capacity of TCE up to 80% RH.