Abstract
Indoor air pollution is becoming more prominent, which requires an urgent need to develop cost-effective adsorption materials. In this work, a novel and bimodal composite of diatomite (Dt) and activated carbon (AC) was developed. Then copper was impregnated on the surface of the diatomite-activated carbon composite (Cu/Dt-AC) for the adsorption of indoor air pollutants (Trimethylamine (TMA) and NH3). The Dt-AC composites contained the inherent characteristics of Dt and AC, showing the bimodal and hierarchically porous structures. The mass ratio of Dt-AC can significantly affect BET (Brunauer Emmet and Teller) surface area and pore size of the Dt-AC composite. Cu-loading can generate many surface functional groups (especially oxygen-containing functional groups –OH, –C–O, O–Si–O, SiO–H), thereby greatly improving the adsorption efficiency. The optimum copper proportion on TMA adsorption performance was 22 wt.% regardless of the ratios of Dt-AC whereas the best NH3 adsorption performance was obtained with a ratio of 1:3 and 22 wt.% of copper. The maximum adsorption capacities of TMA and NH3 were 185.59 and 37.48 mg/g, respectively. The adsorption process of TMA and NH3 well followed the Langmuir isotherm and pseudo-second-order kinetics models. Furthermore, both the intraparticle diffusion and film diffusion models jointly controlled the adsorption mechanism of TMA and NH3 on the Cu/Dt-AC filter. The spent Cu/Dt-AC filter can be regenerated, and its adsorption efficiency remained above 90% for TMA and above 80% for NH3 over five cycles.
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Abbreviations
- AC:
-
Activated carbon
- BET:
-
Brunauer Emmet and Teller
- Cu/Dt-AC:
-
Copper impregnated diatomite-activated carbon composite
- Dt:
-
Diatomite
- Dt-AC:
-
Diatomite-activated carbon composite
- FE-SEM:
-
Field emission scanning electron microscope
- FTIR:
-
Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy
- NLDFT:
-
Nonlocal density functional theory
- PET:
-
Polyethylene terephthalate
- SEM–EDS:
-
Scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive spectroscopy
- TGA:
-
Thermogravimetric analysis
- TMA:
-
Trimethylamine
- VOCs:
-
Volatile organic compounds
- XRD:
-
X-ray diffraction
- XRF:
-
X-ray fluorescence
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Wang, S., Nam, H., Nam, H. et al. Hierarchically porous diatomite-activated carbon composite for TMA and NH3 removal in confined spaces. Int. J. Environ. Sci. Technol. 19, 11217–11232 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-022-03922-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-022-03922-5