Experimental and Modeled Results Describing the Adsorption of Toluene onto Activated Carbon

Adsorption isotherms of toluene on activated carbon were measured by time integration of the breakthrough curves at 298.15 K and 308.15 K using an apparatus developed for this purpose. Isotherms were also measured at 318.15 K and 333.15 K using a microbalance. Activated carbon was used as the adsorbent because it typically exhibits high adsorption capacities and shows potential as an adsorbent to effectively remove volatile organic compounds (VOCs) such as toluene. The experimental data were correlated with the following adsorption isotherms: Langmuir, Freundlich, Toth, and Dubinin. All these models except the Langmuir model were able to correlate our data.