Adsorption of carbon monoxide on novel and Merck activated carbon treated by dielectric barrier discharge

The effect of different physical and chemical properties of activated carbon (AC) on adsorption of carbon monoxide (CO) was studied after treating two types of ACs (Merck/Novel) using dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) which leads to modify the surface functional groups and pore structures. A non-chemical treatment method used to improve the CO removal efficiency of AC involved treating AC with non-thermal DBD plasma in the air and the changes characterizing the results using ultimate analysis and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area. The modification duration and input voltage of the reactor were changed to explore the impact of plasma modification on the two adsorbents in sixteen modified AC groups. According to the present findings, increasing the voltage and duration of plasma treatment caused a threefold and 1.5-fold increase in the capacity to adsorb CO using the Merck AC and the novel AC, respectively. Plasma modification appeared to significantly increase the adsorption capacity CO by increasing the overall volume of Merck AC pores. Increasing the voltage beyond the corona discharge inception point negatively affected the adsorption capacity CO during the modification of the novel AC. Plasma modification caused an increase of 22.5% in the total pore volume of the Merck AC and an increase of 10% in the pore diameter of the novel AC. Given that the different results obtained were associated with the unique structure of the novel AC, the changes caused by plasma modification increased the adsorption capacity of AC.

Automated summary

The effect of DBD treatment on the adsorption capacity of AC for CO was investigated. Increasing the duration and voltage of plasma treatment significantly increased the adsorption capacity of AC, while exceeding the corona discharge inception point negatively affected the adsorption capacity. Plasma modification increased the pore volume of AC and improved its CO adsorption capacity.