Study on Chlorinated Gas Adsorption Using Activated Carbon via Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) Stepwise Pyrolysis Process

Abstract

In this research, we studied the chlorinated gas adsorption process using activated carbon. Two types of granular activated carbon were employed: GAC800 and GAC1200; with specific surface areas of 800 m2/g and 1200 m2/g, respectively. In order to optimize the polyvinyl chloride (PVC) dehydrochlorination conditions, three parameters were studied: (i) the type of precursor—PVC and PVC mixed with charcoal (1:1 by weight)—(ii) the temperature—300 and 400 °C—and (iii) the retention time—30, 120, and 240 min. Mohr’s method and acid-base titration were used to estimate the captured amount of chlorinated gas. The results indicated that the PVC dehydrochlorination occurred completely about 69–73 wt.% at 400 °C for 240 min. The amount of chloride ion was detected around 1–2 mmol/LNaOH. The estimated HCl adsorption capacity for the GAC800 and GAC1200 samples potentially absorbed 0.27 mgHCl/gGAC and 0.21 mgHCl/gGAC, respectively. In addition, the efficiency for GAC800 and GAC1200 was reported to 37.95% and 28.92%, respectively.

Keywords

• polyvinyl chloride
• dehydrochlorination
• activated carbon
• pyrolysis