Coconut Shell Based Activated Carbon Adsorption To Remove Harmful Substances In The Air Pilot Study

With the improved quality of life, people started to search for a comfortable living environment and choose beautiful decorative materials. However, these materials contain many poisonous substances, such as BETX (benzene, ethylbenzene, toluene and xylenes), TVOC (volatile organic compounds) and formaldehyde, which directly contaminate the atmosphere, affect people's health, and induce diseases. Therefore, increased attention has been paid in recent years to the treatment of indoor and outdoor air pollution.In this article, by analyzing the indoor air pollution characteristics, discussing the present domestic and foreign research situations, and investigating the pros and cons of common room air treatment methods, the adsorption experiments were performed and the optimal process route was determined. The coconut shell based activated carbon (AC) prepared under the microwave-steam activation was taken as the absorbent to adsorb the indoor noxious gases of BETX and TVOC. The effect of the properties of AC on the adsorption of noxcious gases was studied. The contrast tests of adsorption were carried out between the coconut shell based AC and commercial AC. Moreover, using the modified activated carbon as the absorbent for formaldehyde, the influence of ACs under different modified conditions on the adsorption of formaldehyde was also investigated. The XPS was used to analyze the change of the surface functional groups of AC. The main conclusions are listed as follows:(1) Adsorptions of BETX by the coconut shell based ACThe adsorption curve of activated carbon with different granularity to the BETX was determined. The influence factors of adsorption were studied and the optimal process conditions were obtained: Under the room temperature, the gas velocity of 15m~3/h, 5g activated carbon with the granularity of 10 mesh could adsorb 300 mg BETX compounds in eight days, which reduce the concentration of BETX from beyond the conventional standard 15,000 times to zero.(2) Adsorptions of TVOC by the coconut shell based ACThe adsorption curve of activated carbon with different granularity to the TVOC was determined. The influence factors of adsorption were studied and the optimal process conditions were obtained: Under the room temperature, the gas velocity of 15m~3/h, 5g activated carbon with the granularity of 10 mesh could adsorb 410 mg TVOC compounds in eight days, which reduce the concentration of TVOC from beyond the conventional standard 6,900 times to zero.The experimental study result indicated that, taken the coconut shell based AC as the absorbent adsorption BTEX and TVOC, its craft is feasible, should serve as the upholstery for the coconut shell activated carbon in the air purification domain...