Preparation of Microfibrous Entrapped Activated Carbon Composites and its Application for Benzene Adsorption

Microfibrous composites consisting of 150-200 mu m activated carbon particles entrapped in 6.5 mu m stainless steel fibers were prepared by wet layup papermaking and sintering process. The effects of a variety of operation parameters on the properties of microfibrous composites were investigated. The composite bed with microfibrous entrapped activated carbon was developed to purify air contaminated with benzene. The experimental results showed that the microfibrous composite with a ratio of 13:6 (W/W, carbon/fibers) was of a relatively higher carbon entrapment ratio under the conditions of adding 2 L water, stirring at 50 Hz for 10 min, and then sintering at 1050 degrees C for 20 min. The breakthrough time of 5.0 cm composite bed increased by 28 min compared with that of a 5.0 cm individual GACs bed, and bed utilization increased 18.4% at 1% breakthrough concentration. The Bohart-Adams and Yoon-Nelson models were applied to analyze the experimental data of composite bed. The Bohart-Adams model fitted well with the experimental data for the C/C-0 region up to 0.5 but showed large discrepancies above this value. The Yoon-Nelson model predicted values were in very good agreement with the experimental results in the C/C-0 region above 0.05.