Effect of humidity on carbon adsorption performance in removing organics from contaminated air streams. Report for January 1987-July 1988

This paper describes the configuration of EPA's in-house, automated, adsorption laboratory, operation of the laboratory, experimental design for evaluating single-component adsorption in the presence of humidity, and results to date. An objective of the laboratory is to characterize the effects of relative humidity (RH) on performance at the lowest concentrations of concern for potentially toxic organic pollutants. Tests have been performed to characterize the effect of humidity on the removal of volatile organics from contaminated air streams at concentrations ranging from 100 to 2000 ppmv. Three compounds, toluene, ethanol, and methyl ethyl ketone, were independently tested with a RH range between 30 and 70%. These tests were performed on activated carbon (BPL 4x10 mesh) on two bed columns, 15.2 cm in diameter and 15.2 cm deep.