Comparative experimental investigation on gas adsorption and desorption characteristics of benzene on macroporous resin and activated carbon fiber

A comparative experimental investigation on purification of benzene by adsorption-microwave desorption and adsorption-thermal desorption was conducted with adsorbents of macroporous resin and activated carbon fibers, respectively. The result shows that, in spite of its less adsorption capacity, the macroporous resin has a steeper adsorption breakthrough curve than activated carbon fibers, which indicates a more favorable adsorption property. After several adsorption-desorption cycles, The adsorption capacity of macroporous resin only appears a slight drop at the begining, then keeps at a very steady state in the later tests. However, the adsorption capacity of activated carbon fibers decreases substantially. In addition, the desorption-rate of macroporous resin by microwave irradiation is much faster than that of activated carbon fibers by hot gas.