Capture and recovery of hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from gas streams using physical adsorption onto activated carbon fiber cloth (ACFC) is demonstrated on the bench-scale. This system is regenerated electrothermally, by passing an electric current directly through the ACFC. The adsorbate desorbs from the ACFC, rapidly condenses on the inside walls of the adsorber, and then drains from the adsorber as a pure liquid. Rapid electrothermal desorption exhibits such unique characteristics as extremely low purge gas flow rate, rapid rate of ADFC heating, rapid mass transfer kinetics inherent to ACFC, and in-vessel condensation. An existing system was scaled up 500%, and the new system was modeled using material and energy balances. ... These results allow the modeling of electrothermal desorption of organic vapors from gas streams with in-vessel condensation to optimize operating conditions of the system during regeneration of the adsorbent.

Regenerative filtration based upon activated carbon cloth (ACFC) and direct ohmic heating is being investigated for both environmental and military applications. Although these Electrothermal Swing Adsorption (ESA) systems have been demonstrated at the bench and pilot scale, further development is needed for scale up and manufacturability. This project consisted of the design, manufacture and testing of a tenth scale Vapor Phase Removal and Recovery System (VaPRRS) filter prototype. The adsorption filter created during this project would function as the primary adsorption filter in a VaPRRS used during the painting of United States Air Force aircraft wheel wells. The VaPRRS is expected to replace the single use filters currently used in this application and provide performance and overall system cost benefits.

Activated-carbon fiber-cloth (ACFC) has been investigated as an alternative adsorbent to remove volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) from gas streams when compared to conventional granular activated carbons (GACs). ACFC has up to twice the adsorption capacity of GAC and is more suited to electrothermal regeneration.