Removal of benzene, toluene, and p-xylene from air using tetramethylammonium and hexadecyltrimethylammonium zeolites

Modern industrial society produces a large number of gases which can pollute the air, such as, benzene, toluene, and xylene, also known as BTX. They are mostly produced as a by-product during industrial processes of the petrochemical plants and have been regulated by different agencies due to environmental damages and detrimental health effects that they produce. Zeolites are showing a good prospect as an inexpensive adsorbent to treat contaminated air. In the experimental part of this research, zeolite was tailored with different dosages of Tetramethylammonium (TMA) and Hexadecyltrimethylammonium (HDTMA), by cationic exchange, in order to remove BTX. The computational part consisted of simulating the benzene and toluene adsorption in the TMA zeolite cavities, using Cerius2 software (Sorption module). Saturation of the zeolite surface occurred at 50 meqTMA/100g. TMA and HDTMA tailored zeolites improved the BTX removal, but HDTMA zeolites optimized it. Also, they showed adsorption selectivity for benzene > toluene > pxylene. Equilibrium batch studies and column studies at temperatures lower and higher than 298K are recommended. Simulations on the zeolite surface should be done.