Development of the adsorption-catalytic reverse-process for incineration of volatile organic compounds in diluted waste gases

Development of adsorption-catalytic reverse-process, based on adsorption of volatile organic compounds (VOC) on the surface of oxide catalyst with periodical incineration of accumulated compounds, applying reverse-flow operation technique is described. Process fundamentals were studied on the base of mathematical model, accounting for heat and mass transfer between gas and catalyst, heat conductivity of the catalyst bed frame, physical adsorption/desorption and irreversible chemisorption of VOC and oxidation of surface compounds. Mathematical modeling showed the high purification efficiency (higher than 99.9%) combined with extremely low energy consumption of the proposed process (less than 1–3 kJ per m 3 of waste gas) in the case of processing of waste gases with low VOC content (below 0.8 g/m 3). Results of pilot tests, confirming theoretical results, are presented in the paper.