Effects of oxygen impurity and desorption temperature on heel build-up in activated carbon

Abstract Oxygen’s presence during thermal desorption of volatile organic compounds from activated carbon can promote heel build-up and loss of adsorption capacity. This study investigated the simultaneous effect of desorption temperature (200 °C and 288 °C) and oxygen concentration (≤5, 10,000, and 21,000 ppmv) on heel build-up. For this purpose, 5-cycle adsorption/desorption tests of 1,2,4-trimethylbenzene on a microporous activated carbon were completed. At low oxygen concentration (≤5 ppmv), desorption at 288 °C resulted in lower cumulative heel compared to at 200 °C; however, at high oxygen concentration (10,000 and 21,000 ppmv), desorption at 288 °C resulted in higher cumulative heel compared to 200 °C. Thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) was used to assess the thermal stability of the heels formed on the samples. At high oxygen concentrations, the heel associated with desorption at 288 °C was more thermally stable than the heel formed at 200 °C, which can be attributed to thermal oxidation reactions of the adsorbate in the activated carbon pores.