Competing adsorption of toluene and water on various zeolites

Decontamination of air or other gas streams loaded with low VOC concentrations is a prevalent task for adsorption using zeolites. Emphasizing the importance of adsorber selection, several zeolites varying in type, Si/Al ratio and provider were tested for toluene as representative organic target compound and water as adsorbate both in single and competing adsorption studies. In some cases, the toluene breakthrough is mainly caused by water-driven desorption. It was shown that for adsorption capacity, kinetics and competition behavior not only type and Si/Al ratio of the zeolite are important but also producer-specific parameters such as crystallinity, binder type and content which are usually not explicitly documented. This study offers a basis for the selection of adsorber materials for treatment of gas streams with significant water contents.