Removal of volatile organic compounds by cryogenic condensation followed by adsorption

Removal of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from gaseous effluents by cryogenic condensation and adsorption has been studied. Mathematical models have been developed to predict the extent of removal of a binary mixture of VOCs in air by these two methods under a wide range of operating conditions. The model results are verified with the published work. A model parametric study carried out in this work suggests that if the concentrations of VOCs in the effluent stream vary over a wide range, condensation followed by adsorption is an effective technique to control the emissions. Condensation is found to be suitable if the VOCs emission levels are high (> 1%). On the other hand, if the emission levels are low i.e. parts per millions (ppm) or sub ppm, adsorption is a preferred technique for removing the VOCs from the effluent stream. The model results in this work have significance from the perspective of understanding the mechanism of removal of VOCs by these two methods, determining the key operating parameters that control the removal process and also, defining an effective VOC control strategy. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.