Characteristics of Adsorption of Organic Solvent Vapors by a New Porous Carbon Material Made of Rice Husk as Measured by Breakthrough Curves

We investigated the adsorbed amount of organic solvent vapors and adsorption rate of a new porous carbon material made from rice husk (rice husk activated carbon) in comparison with those of coconut shell activated carbon by the breakthrough curve. The adsorbed amount on the rice husk activated carbon and that on the coconut shell activated carbon were 81.3 ± 3.3 mg/g and 71.7 ± 5.0 mg/g for acetone, 8.0 ± 1.7 mg/g and 6.3 ± 0.2 mg/g for methanol, 196.8 ± 8.8 mg/g and 262.8 ± 10.4 mg/g for ethyl acetate, 234.8 ± 11.9 mg/g, and 364.6 ± 43.8 mg/g for toluene, respectively. These results suggest that the amount of organic solvent vapors adsorbed per unit weight of rice husk activated carbon is slightly larger for high polar compounds and is smaller for low polar compounds than that of coconut shell activated carbon. We compared the adsorption rate of the two materials by using the slope of the breakthrough curves. Even though there are some limitations to the characteristics of the new porous carbon material, it may be possible to use rice husk activated carbon as an alternative to coconut shell activated carbon in occupational and environmental measures.