chemical engineering research and design 1 1 7 ( 2 0 1 7 ) 725732

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Chemical Engineering Research and Design

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/cherd

Combination of adsorption followed by ozone

oxidation with pressure swing adsorption
technology for the removal of VOCs from
contaminated air streams

G. Swetha, T. Gopi, S. Chandra Shekar , C. Ramakrishna, Bijendra Saini,

P.V.L. Rao
Defence R&D Establishment, Jhansi Road, Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh 474002, India

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: This paper reports the application of adsorption followed by ozone oxidation in the pressure
Received 12 September 2016 swing adsorption (PSA) process for the removal of VOCs from contaminated air streams.
Received in revised form 13 For that 13X molecular sieves and o-xylene selected as adsorbent and contaminant (one
November 2016 of the VOCs), respectively. The adsorption capacity of 13X molecular sieves for o-xylene
Accepted 30 November 2016 is signicantly increased from 0.6 to 2.8 mmol/g with pressure from 0.5 to 5.0 kg/cm2 and
Available online 7 December 2016 these values are relatively good compatible with the Freundlich isotherm model. The 13X
molecular sieves are efciently regenerated in 70 min by ozone oxidation process at 25 C
Keywords: and the adsorbed o-xylene is signicantly oxidized to the CO2 . In four successive cycles of
Adsorption adsorption followed by ozone oxidation process, the adsorption efciency of 13X molecular
Ozone sieves is not affected (5%). Further, the adsorption-ozone oxidation process embedded
PSA PSA system is operated continuously for 50 h and there is no breakthrough observed in
13X molecular sieves the fresh air. So that, the combination of adsorption followed by ozone oxidation with PSA
VOCs process seems to be the better technology for the removal of VOCs from the contaminated
o-Xylene air streams.
2016 Institution of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are often considered as air pollu-
tants which cause serious health problems, and in many countries,
legislation has already been introduced to reduce their emissions (Baek
et al., 2004). Many industrial processes and transportation activities
lead to the accumulation of VOCs in the atmosphere, and hence the
control of VOCs is the key challenge within the research area of envi-
ronmental catalysis (Zhang et al., 2016b). There are several methods
used to reduce the VOCs including absorption, adsorption, incinera-
tion, catalytic oxidation, bioltration and photocatalysis (Kim and Ahn,
2012; Zaitan et al., 2013; Chandra Shekar et al., 2011; Hussain et al., 2011;
Mudliar et al., 2010). Among them, adsorption has been considered as
one of the best methods to treat the VOCs emissions because of its
simple and versatile applications (Zaitan et al., 2013). As an adsorbent,
activated carbon or carbon molecular sieves are usually used due to
their high surface area and non-selective nature (An et al., 2011).
In recent years, the conventional activated carbon has been
replaced by zeolites due to their thermal stability, resistance to humid-
ity, re-generable nature and highly ordered porous structure (Beauchet
et al., 2007; Canet et al., 2007). Moreover, the zeolites can act as an
adsorbent as well as a catalyst, which is an added advantage of zeo-
lites as compared to that of activated carbon (Baek et al., 2004). Many
natural and synthetic zeolites are widely used for the elimination
and separation of VOCs from the polluted air streams (Serrano et al.,
2007). Among them, zeolite-13X or 13X molecular sieve showed better

Corresponding author at: Defence R&D Establishment, Evaluation Facility, Jhansi Road, Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh 474002, India. Fax: +91
7103 280610.
E-mail address: sridarac@yahoo.com (S. Chandra Shekar).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cherd.2016.11.036
0263-8762/ 2016 Institution of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
726 chemical engineering research and design 1 1 7 ( 2 0 1 7 ) 725732
Fig. 1 A schematic experimental setup for the dynamic adsorption-ozone oxidation process. (1) Compressor, (2) saturation
vessel, (3) glass beads, (4) o-xylene, (5) pressure gauge, (6) SS reactor, (7) 13X molecular sieves, (8) ozone generator, (9) ozone
analyser, (10) CO2 analyser, (11) KI trap, 12) GC-FID.
adsorption capacities for many of the VOCs due to its wide pore open-
ing (77.5 ) and cavity diameter (1011 ) (Kim and Ahn, 2012; McEwen
et al., 2013).
Along with the simple adsorption process, many other technolo-
gies combined with adsorption processes such as pressure swing
adsorption (PSA) (Grande, 2012), temperature swing adsorption (TSA)
(Wurzbacher et al., 2011), electro thermal temperature swing adsorp-
tion (ETSA) (Yu et al., 2007), are widely used for the removal of VOCs
from polluted air streams. In a PSA process, the adsorbent material is
regenerated by passing the air ow, which may not produce the com-
plete regeneration of adsorbent. Whereas in the TSA, this is achieved
either by increasing the temperature using hot steam or air, which
require high energy to maintain the temperatures (Ramalingam et al.,
2011). Moreover, steam regeneration require drying of the adsorbent
after desorption (Molina-Sabio et al., 1996). Various other regenera-
tion techniques have also been developed and implemented for the
regeneration of adsorbent material such as introduction of stronger
adsorbate to displace the adsorbed VOCs and by decreasing the partial
pressure (Luo et al., 2006; Weng and Hsu, 2008). However, these tech-
niques only transfer the pollutants from one phase to another one, and
the regeneration of adsorbents is also tedious.
Recently, the combined use of adsorption followed by ozone oxi-
dation gained much attention for the regeneration of adsorbents and
elimination of VOCs from the polluted air streams (Zaitan et al., 2016;
Zhang et al., 2016a). The high oxidization ability of ozone and its
intermediates (O2 and O2 2 ) signicantly decreased the process tem-
peratures and activation energies as compared to that of conventional
catalytic oxidation (Gopi et al., 2016b). The zeolite-13X also proved its
stability and catalytic activity for the ozone assisted catalytic oxidation
of VOCs (Chao et al., 2007; Gopi et al., 2016a). However, this process
has been tested in the laboratory or bench scale systems and pro-
vided better regeneration results as compared to the other regeneration
processes (Soni et al., 2015).
In this regard, we have applied the adsorption followed by ozone
oxidation process for the PSA system for the removal of VOCs from
polluted air streams and up till now no considerable work has been
reported in this area of work. Moreover, this process is more useful
in the defense sector to protect the people/soldiers inside the build-
ings (collective protection) from unknown threats or chemicals. For
this reason, the o-xylene a simulant (by diameter) of many chemical
warfare agents (CWAs) as well as regular VOC is selected as a contam-
inant and tested adsorption capacity of 13X molecular sieves followed
by ozone oxidation for the regeneration of 13X molecular sieves. Fur-
ther, this process combined with the PSA technology and the results
are discussed sequentially.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Adsorbent material and characterization
The commercial sodium form of 13X molecular sieves were
purchased from Sorbead India Pvt., Ltd., India and employed
as an adsorbent material. The characteristics of purchased
13X molecular sieves are: spherical in shape, diameter is
1.94.1 mm, density is 0.600.65 g/ml, packed moisture content
is 1.01.5% and the pore diameter is 10 . Prior to the exper-
iment, the 13X molecular sieves were heated at 150 C in an
electric oven for 48 h.
The purchased 13X molecular sieves were characterized
by BET surface area, XRD, SEM analysis. The BET surface
area and pore size distribution of 13X molecular sieves
determined with a Micromeritics, ASAP2020 surface area
analyser using nitrogen adsorption at 196 C. The specic
surface area of the sample calculated with the multi-point
BrunauerEmmettTeller (BET) procedure and micropore size
distribution determined with HorvthKawazoe (HK) method.
Prior to this, the catalyst (0.1 g) sample was loaded into a
quartz reactor and degaussed at 200 C for 3 h to desorb the
moisture. X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern of 13X molecular
sieves was recorded on a Shimadzu X-ray diffractometer using
Ni ltered Cu K radiation ( = 1.5406 ) with a scan speed
of 2 per min and a scan range of 1080 at 30 kV. The sur-
face morphology of 13X molecular sieves was analyzed with
a FEI Quanta 200 scanning electron microscope (SEM). Prior to
this, the samples coated on a thin carbon tape to avoid charge
effect, and the image was recorded at a magnication of 5000.
2.2. Experimental procedures
2.2.1. Dynamic adsorption studies
The adsorption behavior of o-xylene on 13X molecular sieves
at various pressures (0.55 kg/cm2 ) was carried out in a
 chemical engineering research and design 1 1 7 ( 2 0 1 7 ) 725732
Fig. 2 A schematic experimental setup of PSA process. (1) Compressor, (2) saturation vessel, (3) glass beads, (4) o-xylene,
(5) pressure gauge, (6.1) PSA column-1, (6.2) PSA column-2, (7) 13X molecular sieves, (8) KI trap, (9) on/off valve.
continuous ow SS walled xed bed reactor displayed in Fig. 1.
The xed bed reactor was lled with 30 g of 13X molecu-
lar sieves (spherical beads, 1.94.1 mm) and passed the feed
air (6 l/min) against the gravitational force. The saturation
method was adopted to generate the feed concentration (o-
xylene + air), for this the dry air from compressor was passed
through the saturation vessel (SS walled), which was lled
with o-xylene and maintained the required concentrations by
the addition of secondary dry air. The mass ow controllers
(Sierra instruments, The Netherlands) were used to control all
the ows rates. The pressure on the xed bed was controlled by
pressure regulators and the analysis of inlet and outlet of the
reactor was done by online gas chromatograph coupled with
ame ionisation detector (GC-FID, Bruker GC). Prior to this, the
GC-FID was calibrated with known concentrations of o-xylene
to quantify the FID peak area. The total amount of adsorbed
o-xylene per gram of 13X molecular sieves qe (mmol/g), was
calculated from the following equation
tB
F
qe = (Cin Cout )dt
m 106
tA
where Cin and Cout (ppmv) are gas phase concentration of o-
xylene at the inlet and outlet of the reactor, respectively, m
(g) is the mass of 13X molecular sieves sample used in each
adsorption chamber, and F is the gas ow rate (6 l/min).
2.2.2. Ozone oxidation studies
After completion of adsorption process at selected pressure,
the ozone oxidation was continued at an atmospheric pres-
sure in the gravitational direction (Fig. 1). The compressor air
was used to generate the ozone by an ozone generator (Eltech
engineers, India) and passed through the o-xylene adsorbed
xed bed. The eluted contaminants were analyzed by GC-
FID, ozone analyzer (Eltech Eng., India, range 0200 N g/m3 )
and CO2 analyzer (Technovation Analytical Instruments Ltd.,
India, P90, range 1020,000 ppmv). Further, the purge air hav-
727
ing unreacted ozone was passed through the KI trap for the
complete decomposition of ozone to reduce the secondary
pollution. The experiment was continued till the 13X molecu-
lar sieves adsorbed contaminants are eluted (around 80 min).
Further, the ozone was stopped and o-xylene contaminated
air ow was sent again over the regenerated 13X molecular
sieves under the same conditions as been discussed in the rst
adsorption step. After complete saturation of adsorbent with
o-xylene, contaminated air ow was stopped and the adsor-
bent was regenerated by ozone oxidation process at same
conditions described in ozone oxidation. The same experi-
ments were repeated 3 times (3 times adsorption and 3 times
ozone oxidation).
2.2.3. Adsorption-ozone oxidation combined with PSA
process
Fig. 2 shows the experimental setup of pressure swing adsorp-
tion (PSA) system. It has two adsorption columns with the
dimensions of 30.5 cm height 3.8 cm internal diameter. The
(1) system also equipped with the appropriate pressure gauges
at various points to maintain the required pressure on the
adsorbent bed and operated with a standard time combina-
tion controller (EAPL Pvt., Ltd.). In order to avoid the dust
of adsorbent in the fresh air, the PSA columns were tted
with built-in dust lters made-up of Teon. The PSA columns
were lled with 30 g of 13X molecular sieves (1.94.1 mm) and
passed the feed steam (6 l/min) against the gravitational force.
The outlet ow (fresh air) of the column was divided into two
ways and 20% of it (1.2 l/min) passed through ozone genera-
tor to regenerate the adsorbent in another PSA column and
the other 80% of the column was fresh air. This process is
reversible; when the rst column is under adsorption pro-
cess second column undergoes regeneration (ozone oxidation)
whereas when the second column is under adsorption, the
rst column undergoes regeneration. The feed concentration
generation and analysis of fresh and purge air were same as
described in the dynamic adsorption studies.
728 chemical engineering research and design 1 1 7 ( 2 0 1 7 ) 725732

Fig. 3 (a) N2 adsorptiondesorption isotherms and (b) pore size distributions, (c) XRD pattern, (d) SEM image, and (e) EDS
spectra of 13X molecular sieves.

Table 1 Physical characteristics adsorption capacities of 13X molecular sieves.

Adsorbent BET-SA (m2 /g) Atomic % from SEM-EDAX Adsorption capacities (mmol/g)
2
Na Si Al O Si/Al Pressure (kg/cm ) 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0 4.5 5.0

13X 746 11 16.8 10.1 61.2 1.7 0.6 1.1 1.6 2.1 2.3 2.6 2.68 2.72 2.8 2.8

3. Results and discussion the surface of the catalyst is examined by energy dispersive X-
ray (EDS) analysis (Fig. 3e) and the respective element atomic
3.1. Surface and crystalline properties of 13X % is displayed in Table 1. From the results, the observed Si/Al
molecular sieves ratio of the 13X molecular sieves is 1.7.

The 13X molecular sieves characterized for its physical proper-

3.2. Dynamic adsorption studies of o-xylene
ties like BET-SA, BJH pore size distribution, X-ray diffraction,
morphology and surface atomic composition to understand
In order to understand the effect of pressure on the dynamic
the adsorption properties. From Fig. 3a, the sharp rise at a very
adsorption of o-xylene on 13X molecular sieves, a set of exper-
low p/p value in the N2 adsorption isotherm prole represents
iments were conducted by varying the pressure from 0.5 to
the microporous nature of 13X molecular sieves. Fig. 3b shows
5 kg/cm2 . Fig. 4 shows the progression of the ratio of the con-
that the average pore size distribution of 13X molecular sieves
centration of o-xylene at the outlet and inlet of the reactor
is 8.15 and which is well acceptable for the removal of the
(Cout /Cin ) as a function of time, during the adsorption at 25 C.
majority of CWAs simulants (critical diameter range from 2 to
At 0.5 kg/cm2 pressure, the o-xylene in the fresh air is detected
8 ) (Ramakrishna et al., 2016). The BET surface area of 13X
after 10 min (breakthrough) and further it is sharply increased
molecular sieves from N2 adsorption is observed as 746 m2 /g.
to 75% of saturation value (Cout /Cin = 0.75) after 25 min. With
The XRD pattern (Fig. 3c) shows the diffraction signals at
the increase in applied pressure, the breakthrough of o-xylene
2 = 10, 11.6, 15.4, 20, 23.3, 26.7, 29.3 and 31 which correspond
in the fresh air increased and the slope of the dynamic adsorp-
to the typical pattern of crystalline 13X molecular sieves with
tion curves decreased.
FAU structure (Du and Wu, 2007). The surface morphology of
Fig. 5 shows that the dynamic adsorption of 13X molecular
13X molecular sieves is analyzed by scanning electron micro-
sieves increases with the increase in pressure. However, it is
scope (SEM) and the image is displayed in Fig. 3d. From the
not linear with the pressure. The increment in the dynamic
image, it appears to be pebble like structures with the diameter
adsorption capacities (Table 1) of 13X molecular sieves up to
of the crystals present in it are 300 nm3.5 m. Similar results
3 kg/cm2 is relatively higher, which could be due to the lling of
were reported for the NaX and AgX zeolite by Belkhair et al.
o-xylene into the micropores of 13X molecular sieves (Kim and
(2015). The relative surface abundance of elements present on
Ahn, 2012). Whereas, at above 3 kg/cm2 the increment is very
 chemical engineering research and design 1 1 7 ( 2 0 1 7 ) 725732
0.8
0.6
0.5 Kg/cm
Cout/Cin
1.0
0.4
1.5
2.0
2.5
0.2 3.0
3.5
4.0
4.5
0.0 5.0
0 30 60 90 120 150
Time on stream (min)
Fig. 4 Progression of the ratio of o-xylene (Cout /Cin ) as a
function of time at various pressures. Conditions:
adsorbent-13X molecular sieves, 30 g, and temperature:
25 C.
small and reached to a constant adsorption, which might be
due to the completion of monolayer adsorption (Zaitan et al.,
2016). Further, these experimental adsorption capacity val-
ues at different pressures are correlated with the Langmuir
and Freundlich isotherm models (Fig. 3), which are intensively
used to describe the adsorption isotherms on zeolites (Nastaj
et al., 2006). However, the experimental values showed high
deviation with Langmuir isotherm model but are relatively
good compatible with the Freundlich isotherm model. As we
know that the Langmuir isotherm model is mostly theoretical
construct whereas Freundlich isotherm model is empirical.
However, the adsorption capacity values of 13X molecular
sieves increased almost 5 times with pressure, which clearly
says that the elimination of contaminants from waste air
streams more efcient by applying the pressure. From the
dynamic adsorption studies, 3.5 kg/cm2 is selected as opti-
mum pressure for the 13X molecular sieves and employed in
the PSA process.
3.3. Adsorbent regeneration by ozone oxidation
process
Fig. 6a shows the dynamic adsorption prole at an optimized
pressure of 3.5 kg/cm2 . The o-xylene in the fresh air is detected
after 70 min (breakthrough) and later it slowly increased and
reached to saturation after 150 min. After the complete sat-
uration of adsorbent bed at an optimized pressure, the inlet
contaminant air ow was stopped and the ozone (2100 ppmv)
was introduced at an atmospheric pressure in the opposite
direction, continued up to the complete oxidation of o-xylene.
From the results (Fig. 6b), the o-xylene elution continuously
decreased from the reactor and no o-xylene is detected after
40 min. Meanwhile, CO2 concentration sharply increased and
continued for about 20 min further, it decreased slowly and
eluted some tail concentrations continuously. Similar kind of
results was observed in our previous study of toluene oxida-
tion (Gopi et al., 2016b), that is the adsorbed o-xylene may
initially convert to partial oxidation products (POPs) on the
surface of the adsorbent, further these POPs convert to CO2 .
The surface formed superoxide and peroxide species during
the ozone decomposition (Eqs. (2)(4)) might be the primary
729
2
180
Fig. 5 Adsorption isotherm of o-xylene on 13X molecular
sieves at 25 C, qe: adsorbed quantity of toluene per mass
of zeolite.
sources for the oxidation of o-xylene and POPs into CO2 (Einaga
et al., 2013; Dhandapani and Oyama, 1997).
O3 + O2 + O (2)
O + O 3 O2 + O2 (3)
O2 O2 + (4)
O and O2 + o-Xylene CO2 (5)
where * refers to the catalytic active sites of 13X molecular
sieves (Huang et al., 2015). The Lewis acidic sites present on
the 13X molecular sieves may act as active sites for the decom-
position ozone (Brodu et al., 2013). In contrast, little amount
of ozone is observed in the purge gas after 30 min of reaction,
which could be due to the decrease of 13X molecular sieves
adsorbed organic matter. Chao et al. also reported the same
as the consumption of ozone in presence of organic matter
and adsorbent was more compared to the empty adsorbent
(Chao et al., 2007).
3.4. Successive cycles of adsorption-ozone oxidation
treatments
After the rst cycle of adsorption-oxidation process, new con-
taminated air ow was sent again over the 13X molecular
sieves under the same conditions as been used during the
rst adsorption step. Further, the adsorbent was regenerated
by ozone oxidation process at same conditions described in
ozone oxidation. The same experiments were repeated 3 times
and the results are depicted in Fig. 7a. The results show that
the adsorption curve is quite same (5% variation) for 2nd,
3rd and 4th adsorption process with a standard deviation of
0.03, which indicate that the 13X molecular sieves are signif-
icantly regenerated. Zaitan et al. also reported the same as
that the adsorption-ozone oxidation process was effectively
regenerated the ZSM-5 catalyst for the toluene adsorption and
oxidation (Zaitan et al., 2016).
Fig. 7bd describes the experimental results of three
adsorption-ozone oxidation cycles (2nd, 3rd and 4th) per-
formed over the same 13X molecular sieves. The three
730 chemical engineering research and design 1 1 7 ( 2 0 1 7 ) 725732

500
3
adsorption at 3.5 Kg/cm ozonation at atmospheric pressure
(a) o-Xylene (b) o-Xylene
400 CO2
O3

Co-Xylene/CCO 8/CO (ppmv)

300

200
2

100

0
0 50 100 150 0 20 40 60 80
Time (min) Time (min)

Fig. 6 (a) Adsorption prole of o-xylene on 13X molecular sieves at 3.5 kg/cm2 , 25 C and Cin(o-xylene) of 550 ppmv, (b) ozone
oxidation of pre-adsorbed o-xylene as a function of time at 25 C and 2100 ppmv (CO3 ).

Fig. 7 (a) Comparison of toluene adsorption curves after different cycles of adsorption-ozone oxidation, (b) 2nd cycle of
adsorption-ozone oxidation prole, (c) 3rd cycle of adsorption-ozone oxidation prole and (d) 4th cycle of adsorption-ozone
oxidation prole.

cycles adsorption-ozone oxidation results followed the 1st
adsorption-ozone oxidation results with little variations. From
the results, the complete elution of adsorbed o-xylene and oxi-
dation of o-xylene to CO2 (CO2 elution) completed in 50 min of
reaction time. On the other hand, there is no breakthrough
of o-xylene observed up to 50 min in the fresh air during the
adsorption process. Considering these two things, the 100 min
selected as cycle time (50 min of adsorption time to each col-
umn) in the PSA system.
 chemical engineering research and design 1 1 7 ( 2 0 1 7 ) 725732
Fig. 8 PSA break through prole as a function of time.
Conditions: cycle time: 100 min, pressure: 3.5 kg/cm2 ,
adsorbent: 30 g, 13X molecular sieves, ozone: 2100 ppmv.
3.5. Combination of adsorption-ozone oxidation
process with pressure swing adsorption system
The PSA studies were performed at the total ow of 6 l/min,
with a purge ow of 1.2 l/min (20% of Vtotal ), cycle time of
100 min, pressure of 3.5 kg/cm2 and at a temperature of 25 C.
The generated average feed concentration for the PSA sys-
tem was 550 ppmv. Further the adsorption-ozone oxidation
process combined with the PSA process and performed at
optimum values based on dynamic adsorption capacity and
the regeneration results obtained as mentioned above. The
results (Fig. 8) reveal that there is no breakthrough of o-xylene
observed for the 50 h of continuous operation. During this
period each column in the PSA system was adsorbed 30 times
by o-xylene and regenerated 30 times by ozone oxidation pro-
cess. These results clearly say that the 13X molecular sieves
acted as an effective source for the adsorption of o-xylene at
high pressure. Further, the Lewis acidic sites presented on the
13X molecular sieves effectively generated the highly reactive
intermediates (O* and O2 *) during the ozone oxidation process
and oxidized the adsorbed o-xylene (regenerated the adsor-
bent). Overall the combination of adsorption-ozone oxidation
process seems to be a better technology than that of the simple
adsorptiondesorption process. Along with that application
of adsorption-ozone oxidation process in the PSA technology
showed better results as compared to the simple PSA tech-
nology and it is comparatively more efcient for the removal
of VOCs from the contaminated air streams. Moreover, this
process is more useful in the defense sector to protect the peo-
ple/soldiers inside the buildings (collective protection) from
unknown threats or chemicals. Because, in a PSA system due
to simple adsorptiondesorption process the adsorbed toxic
chemicals will enter again into the environment, which may
not reduce the toxicity of environment air. But the ozone oxi-
dation combined with PSA process can decompose/oxidize the
adsorbed toxic chemicals to harmless CO2 along with the fresh
air. Overall, this seems to be a better process for the air puri-
cation in the defense sector as well as for the removal of VOCs
from the contaminated air streams. Hence, this process can
be efciently used in the factory workshops, meeting rooms
and so on for fresh air.
731
4. Conclusions
In this research, a novel adsorption followed by ozone oxi-
dation process is studied for the adsorption and oxidation
of o-xylene on 13X molecular sieves at 25 C. Further this
process is applied successfully with the PSA technology and
eliminated o-xylene from contaminated air streams. Results
obtained in this work showed that the adsorption of o-xylene
on the 13X molecular sieves signicantly increased from 0.6
to 2.8 mmol/g with pressure. These experimental adsorption
capacity values at different pressures are correlated with the
Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models and relatively good
compatible with the Freundlich isotherm model. Further, the
adsorbed o-xylene is efciently oxidized to CO2 by ozone oxi-
dation at 25 C and completed the CO2 elution in 70 min of
reaction time. These optimized results are applied to the PSA
process and there is no breakthrough of o-xylene observed for
the 50 h of continuous operation. However, it requires further
study to decrease the regeneration time and ozone elution
from the purge air. Overall, the combination of adsorption fol-
lowed by ozone oxidation with PSA process seems to be the
better technology for the removal of VOCs from the contam-
inated air streams and can be efciently used in the factory
workshops, meeting rooms and so on.
Acknowledgments
One of the authors G. Swetha is grateful to University Grants
Commission, New Delhi, India for awarding the fellowship.
The authors are also obliged to A.P. Bansod and Director, DRDE
for the necessary support to carry out the research work.
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