Adsorption of multicomponent volatile organic compounds on semi-coke

Experimental and theoretical studies were made on the adsorption of toluene, ethyl acetate, benzene and their binary and ternary mixtures by semi-coke in an isothermal condition of 293 K. Breakthrough curves of these volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were measured by a gas chromatograph. The results showed that the adsorptive orders of these three VOCs were: toluene > ethyl acetate > benzene. The phenomenon of “roll-up” was observed in the breakthrough curves and under this condition, the more strongly adsorbed species displace the weaker ones. H2O2 was used to activate the semi-coke and the activation enhanced the adsorption capacity of semi-coke to all the three VOCs, especially to toluene. The extended Langmuir equation agrees well with the experimental isotherm data for binary and ternary mixtures and the error is below 5%.