A critical review on VOCs adsorption by different porous materials: Species, mechanisms and modification methods

Abstract

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) have attracted world-wide attention regarding their serious hazards on ecological environment and human health. Industrial processes such as fossil fuel combustion, petrochemicals, painting, coatings, pesticides, plastics, contributed to the large proportion of anthropogenic VOCs emission. Destructive methods (catalysis oxidation and biofiltration) and recovery methods (absorption, adsorption, condensation and membrane separation) have been developed for VOCs removal.Adsorption is established as one of the most promising strategies for VOCs abatement thanks to its characteristics of cost-effectiveness, simplicity and low energy consumption. The prominent progress in VOCs adsorption by different kinds of porous materials (such as carbon-based materials, oxygen-contained materials, organic polymers and composites is carefully summarized in this work, concerning the mechanism of adsorbate-adsorbent interactions, modification methods for the mentioned porous materials, and enhancement of VOCs adsorption capacity. This overview is to provide a comprehensive understanding of VOCs adsorption mechanisms and up-to-date progress of modification technologies for different porous materials.

Comparative Study of Toluene and Hexane Adsorption on Activated Carbons From Gas and Liquid Phase. Enthalpy and Isotherms

“…The adsorption process has been used to remove volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which are compounds that can easily pass into the vapor phase and they are used in the manufacture of several products such as waxes, varnishes, paints, detergents, cleaning products, and solvents (Cheng et al, 2016;Huang et al, 2016;Kamal et al, 2016;Mirzaei et al, 2016;Salar-García et al, 2017;Zhang et al, 2017;Zhu et al, 2020); however, they cause health damage, mainly to the central nervous system.…”

“…For the removal of VOCs, control mechanisms have emerged that can be divided into recovery methods and destruction methods; within the first ones are condensation, membrane separation, and adsorption, with respect to the latter include biodegradation, catalytic oxidation, thermal oxidation and plasma catalysis (Lhuissier et al, 2018;He et al, 2019;Lan et al, 2019;Tomatis et al, 2019;Guo et al, 2020;Liu et al, 2020;Wang et al, 2020;Zhu et al, 2020). Regarding destruction methods, they generally convert VOCs into CO 2 and H 2 O, however, recovery methods are cheaper, require less energy and are less polluting Zhu et al, 2020).…”

“…For the removal of VOCs, control mechanisms have emerged that can be divided into recovery methods and destruction methods; within the first ones are condensation, membrane separation, and adsorption, with respect to the latter include biodegradation, catalytic oxidation, thermal oxidation and plasma catalysis (Lhuissier et al, 2018;He et al, 2019;Lan et al, 2019;Tomatis et al, 2019;Guo et al, 2020;Liu et al, 2020;Wang et al, 2020;Zhu et al, 2020). Regarding destruction methods, they generally convert VOCs into CO 2 and H 2 O, however, recovery methods are cheaper, require less energy and are less polluting Zhu et al, 2020). Adsorption is a recovery method that is considered favorable due to its low cost and high efficiency, for which carbonaceous materials have been widely used due to their versatility, selectivity, surface area, variety of porous structure, high capacity, and fast adsorption kinetics, besides being hydrophobic solids that can be physically or chemically modified to generate greater selectivity for adsorptives of interest (Zhang et al, 2017;Zhou et al, 2017;Yang et al, 2019;Abd et al, 2020;Zhu et al, 2020).…”

“…Regarding destruction methods, they generally convert VOCs into CO 2 and H 2 O, however, recovery methods are cheaper, require less energy and are less polluting Zhu et al, 2020). Adsorption is a recovery method that is considered favorable due to its low cost and high efficiency, for which carbonaceous materials have been widely used due to their versatility, selectivity, surface area, variety of porous structure, high capacity, and fast adsorption kinetics, besides being hydrophobic solids that can be physically or chemically modified to generate greater selectivity for adsorptives of interest (Zhang et al, 2017;Zhou et al, 2017;Yang et al, 2019;Abd et al, 2020;Zhu et al, 2020).…”

Pore structure and VOCs adsorption characteristics of activated coke powders derived via one‐step rapid pyrolysis activation method

“…Techniques that have been widely studied include adsorption, 2 absorption, 3 thermal oxidation, 4 catalytic oxidation, 5 photocatalytic oxidation, 6 and biological treatment 7 . Among these methods, adsorption is one of the most effective, simple, and low‐cost promising techniques for VOC abatement 8,9 …”