Supercritical propane regeneration of activated carbon fiber adsorbed by heavy oil

LPG (liquid petroleum gas) contains small amount of heavy oil. This heavy oil could be removed by adsorption with activated carbon fiber. Desorption of this heavy oil from the activated carbon fiber by supercritical propane was tried in this study. The activated carbon fiber, adsorbed 1-nonadecene or lubricant oil from hexane solution, was prepared as model spent carbon. This spent carbon was packed in a column, which was set in a super critical fluid chromatograph with propane carrier. Reasonable adsorption and desorption amounts were observed to prove the possibility of this heavy oil removal process. Repeating operation of adsorption and desorption was successfully tried.