Adsorption Behavior of Ammonia and Trimethylamine Binary Mixtures in Pores of Plasma-Treated Activated Carbon

The adsorption behavior of an ammonia, trimethylamine gas mixture on plasma-treated activated carbons (PT-ACs) was investigated by using adsorption isotherms. The adsorption capacity of the PT-AC was 1.2-1.3 times larger than that of corresponding raw activated carbons (R-ACs) for a 1 : 1 gas mixture. The experimental adsorption behavior of the mixture coincided well with the theoretical adsorption on the PT-ACs, while a substantial discrepancy was observed between them on the R-ACs. This may be because the competitive adsorption of individual components was less on the PT-ACs than on the R-ACs. Adsorption of the ammonia, trimethylamine mixture seemed to be enhanced at low concentrations on PT-ACs by the acid functional groups formed by oxygenplasma treatment. The PT-ACs, which show high adsorption capacity compared to the R-ACs, seem to be promising adsorbents for ammonia, trimethylamine gas mixtures at low concentration levels.