Mass transfer enhancement of toluene adsorption over CNTs films on paper-like sintered stained steel fibers.

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are considered an effective adsorbent for VOCs adsorption due to their excellent physical properties. But the adsorption properties of CNTS are greatly weakened due to the agglomeration effect. As a new type of structural material, microfiber composite can effectively solve this problem. In this work, camphor was used as the precursor to growing carbon nanotubes directly on the surface of paper-like stainless steel fibers (PSSF) by chemical vapor deposition, and the microfiber composite carbon nanotube membrane was prepared. The effects of growth time, temperature and flow rate of carrier gas on the growth of carbon nanotubes were discussed. The mechanism of mass transfer enhancement of the adsorption process of toluene by microfiber composites was investigated by constructing a mixed fixed bed of carbon nanotubes and composites. Compared with the structured bed of 3 cm CNTs, the length of unused bed (LUB) of 1.5 cm CNTs+ 1.5 cm CNTs/PSSF decreased by 0.209 cm, and the bed utilization ∆Z increased from 59.36 % to 66.33 %. The mixed fixed bed adsorption process can be well-fitted by the Yoon-Nelson model (R2 =0.91). [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]