Advanced oxidant reactivity pertaining to granular activated carbon beds for air pollution control Original Research Article

The Pennsylvania State University is researching an advanced oxidation system, which includes an air-phase photolytic chamber, an air/water stripping tower, and granular activated carbon (GAC) beds, for controlling volatile organic compounds (VOCs). A laboratory-scale experimental procedure has been employed that simulated certain aspects of several full-scale installations. The apparatus has been used to characterize the loading capacity and mass transfer zone of selected VOCs on coconut shell GAC. The GAC bed has then been placed in series with an ultraviolet reactor, which generates ozone and advanced oxidants in order to regenerate the loaded GAC at intensities of advanced oxidants that were higher than full-scale installations.