Migration and diffusion of unsteady-state flow of volatile organic compounds on activated carbon adsorption beds under reverse ventilation

Despite increasing attention to the influence of unsteady-state volatile organic compounds (VOCs) on the adsorption of activated carbon, studies in this regard are rare. Therefore, in this study, an investigation into the migration and diffusion of unsteady-state VOCs on activated carbon adsorption beds under reverse ventilation was conducted. Here, reverse clean air was introduced when the activated carbon bed reached the penetration point. The influence of reverse ventilation temperature, reverse superficial gas velocity, activated carbon filling height, and different ventilation modes on the adsorption of unsteady toluene by activated carbon were studied. Our experimental results show that when the reverse ventilation temperature increased from 20 °C to 60 °C, the quasi-first-order desorption rate constant increased from 0.00356 min −1 to 0.00807 min −1 , an increase in the reverse superficial gas velocity led to a higher rate constant, and at greater reverse superficial gas velocities, the stripping capacity increased. It was observed that the maximum stripping capacity was achieved at a reverse superficial gas velocity of 0.3 m/s. For different activated carbon filling heights, following reverse ventilation, the stripping capacity of a 5 cm and 30 cm activated carbon bed accounted for 41.43% and 65.85% of the original adsorption capacity, respectively. The study concludes that concentration of toluene first increased and then decreased with time under forward ventilation, whereas the concentration gradually decreased under reverse ventilation. • This paper investigated the migration and diffusion of unsteady-state VOCs on activated carbon adsorption beds under reverse ventilation. • This study uses activated carbon saturated at a certain intake air concentration to adsorb unsteady VOCs under reverse ventilation at ambient temperature. • The influences of reverse ventilation temperature, reverse superficial gas velocity, activated carbon filling height, and different ventilation modes on the adsorption of unsteady toluene by activated carbon were studied.