Electrically regenerable carbon monolithic adsorption system for the recovery and recycle of volatile organic chemicals (VOCs)

The paper describes a novel technol. for the cost effective recovery and recycle of VOCs using elec. conducting carbon monolithic adsorbents. The monoliths are produced from phenolic resin precursors using a binderless process that allows independent control of the cell/pore structure. Expts. have shown that the adsorption performance of the monoliths is close to that of an equiv. packed bed of spherical carbons but with around 1/100th of the pressure drop, which allows the VOC reactors to be installed in ductwork without the requirement for addnl. gas compression. The reactor can be operated on an adsorption/regeneration cycle of 0.5 h, which allows for a considerable redn. in the carbon bed size. [on SciFinder (R)]