Evaluation of an adsorption system to concentrate VOC in air streams prior to catalytic incineration

CAMPESI, M. A.; LUZI, C. D.; BARRETO, G. F.; MARTÍNEZ, O. M.

JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT

ACADEMIC PRESS LTD-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2015 vol. 154 p. 216 - 224

0301-4797

Catalytic combustion isa well-developed process for the removal of volatile organic compounds (VOCs).In order to reduce both the amount of catalyst needed for incineration and thesurface area of recuperative heat exchangers, an evaluation of the use ofthermal swing adsorption as a previous step for VOC concentration is made. Anair stream containing ethyl acetate and ethanol (employed as solvents inprinting processes) has been taken as a case study. Based on thecharacteristics of the adsorption/desorption system and the properties of thestream to be treated, a monolithic rotor concentrator with activated carbon asadsorbent material is adopted. Once the temperature of the inlet desorptionstream TD is chosen, the minimum possible desorption flow rate, and the amount of adsorbent material can be properlydefined according to the extent of the Mass Transfer Zone (MTZ) at the end ofthe adsorption stage. An approximate procedure to speed up the calculationsneeded for sizing the bed and predicting the operating variables is alsopresented. In the case studied here, the concentration of the VOC stream canreach 6 times that of the primary effluent when TD=200 °C is chosen.