Impact of Relative Humidity on the Adsorption of VOC Pollutants by Porous Materials

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This webinar is based on a recent study by Elwin Hunter-Sellars et al. and focuses on the removal of volatile organic compounds by porous inorganic solids. A range of pore size distributions and chemistries were assessed at room temperature and relative humidity (RH) values from 0 to 70% to reflect real-world conditions similar to those of indoor air.

Dry removal performance appeared to be dependent on the surface area of adsorbents and, for polar compounds, the relative hydrophobicity of the material. Performance of sorbents with hydrophilic surface chemistry, such as silica gel and molecular sieve 13X, decreased drastically with small increases in pre-exposed humidity. Activated charcoal and high-silica faujasite Y retained their capacities for toluene in relative humidities up to 50% and 70% respectively, which highlights their selectivity for non-polar species due to hydrophobic pore structure and low water vapor uptake.