Simultaneously enhancing toluene adsorption and regeneration process by hierarchical pore in activated coke: a...

Activated coke is a type of commonly used adsorbent for benzene series VOCs such as toluene, but traditional microporous activated coke usually faces the challenge of poor regeneration performance. Herein, based on self-made activated cokes with typical pore configuration, we found that adsorption and regeneration of toluene can be simultaneously enhanced by constructing hierarchical pore in activated coke. Correlations of pore configuration with toluene adsorption capacity and regeneration efficiency reveal that micropore contributes for strong toluene adsorption; meso-macropore provides mass transfer channel for toluene desorption and regeneration process. Hierarchical porous activated coke prepared from Zhundong subbituminous coal not only achieves the highest toluene adsorption capacity of 340.92 mg·g^-1, but also can retain more than 90% of initial adsorption capacity after five adsorption-regeneration cycles. By contrast, micropore-dominant activated cokes can only retain 70% of initial adsorption capacity. Adsorption kinetic modelling on adsorption breakthrough curves shows that hierarchical porous activated coke prepared from Zhundong subbituminous coal exhibits high adsorption and diffusion rate constants of 14.39 and 33.45 min^-1, respectively, much higher than those of micropore-dominant activated cokes. Due to the accelerated surface adsorption and diffusion processes induced by meso-macropore, toluene adsorption and regeneration behavior can be simultaneously improved. Results from this work validated the role of pore hierarchy in toluene adsorption-regeneration process, providing guidance for designing high-performance activated coke with synergistically improved toluene adsorption capacity and regeneration performance.