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Updated: Feb 1, 2026

Capturing Actively Produced Microbial Volatile Organic Compounds from Human-Associated Samples with Vacuum-Assisted Sorbent Extraction
Published on: June 1, 2022
Chemically activated hydrochar as an effective adsorbent for volatile organic compounds (VOCs)
Xueyang Zhang1, Bin Gao2, June Fang2
1School of Environmental Engineering, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Industrial Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, Xuzhou University of Technology, Xuzhou 221018, China; Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Vehicle Emissions Control, Center of Modern Analysis, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China; Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA; Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Environmental Material and Environmental Engineering, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225009, China.
Abstract:
Hydrochars derived from hickory wood and peanut hull through hydrothermal carbonization were activated with H3PO4 and KOH to improve their performance as a volatile organic compound (VOC) adsorbent. Polar acetone and nonpolar cyclohexane were used as representative VOCs. The VOC adsorptive capacities of the activated hydrochars (50.57-159.66 mg⋅g-1) were greater than that of the nonactivated hydrochars (15.98-25.36 mg⋅g-1), which was mainly caused by the enlargement of surface area. The significant linear correlation (R2 = 0.984 on acetone, and R2 = 0.869 on cyclohexane) between BET surface areas of hydrochars and their VOC adsorption capacities, together with the obvious adsorption exothermal peak of differential scanning calorimetry curve confirmed physical adsorption as the dominating mechanism. Finally, the reusability of activated hydrochar was tested on H3PO4 activated hickory hydrochar (HHP), which had higher acetone and cyclohexane adsorption capacities. After five continuous adsorption desorption cycles, the adsorptive capacities of acetone and cyclohexane on HHP decreased by 6.2% and 7.8%, respectively. The slight decline in adsorption capacity confirmed the reusability of activated hydrochar as a VOC sorbent.
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