Comparison of Adsorbents Containing Carbon Nanotubes for Express Pre-Concentration of Volatile Organic Compounds from the Air Flow

New composite adsorbents including silica supports (silica, aerosilogel, and diatomite) and carbon materials (multiwall carbon nanotubes and pyrolytic carbon) have been prepared and characterized. The analytical capabilities of the produced sorbents have been evaluated by their efficiency in the express pre-concentration of volatile organic compounds (butanol and phenols) from the air stream. The prepared surface-layered adsorbents containing multiwall carbon nanotubes placed onto the surface of aerosilogel by use of the carbon vapor deposition method with preloading cobalt nanostructures as a catalyst were found significantly more efficient than traditionally used graphitic carbon-based adsorbents Carbopacks B, C, and X. Additionally, a new adsorbent composed of diatomite Porochrome-3 support coated with a pyrocarbon layer was prepared. This low surface area composited adsorbent allowed both quantitative pre-concentration of phenol and isomeric cresols from the air and their thermal desorption. The developed adsorbents provided fast pre-concentration of selected phenols with a concentration factor of 2 × 103 in 5 min and were used for gas chromatographic determination of analytes in the air at low concentration levels starting from several μg/m3 with a flame ionization detector.

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Comparative study on TPU/multi-walled carbon nanotubes conductive nanocomposites for volatile organic compounds sensor applications

Journal of Polymer Research ◽

10.1007/s10965-021-02717-5 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 28 (9) ◽

Author(s):

Lei Yan ◽

Tanghong Xiong ◽

Zhaoxin Zhang ◽

Han Yang ◽

Xuntao Zhang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Carbon Nanotubes ◽

Volatile Organic Compounds ◽

Comparative Study ◽

Organic Compounds ◽

Sensor Applications ◽

Conductive Nanocomposites ◽

Volatile Organic ◽

Multi Walled Carbon Nanotubes ◽

Walled Carbon Nanotubes

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Application of carbon monolith based on exfoliated graphite for sorption and subsequent chromatographic determination of volatile organic compounds in soil air

Industrial laboratory Diagnostics of materials ◽

10.26896/1028-6861-2021-87-11-5-10 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 87 (11) ◽

pp. 5-10

Author(s):

E. S. Markova ◽

A. V. Pirogov ◽

A. A. Sadovnikova ◽

M. V. Popik ◽

O. A. Shpigun ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Volatile Organic Compounds ◽

Organic Compounds ◽

Thermal Desorption ◽

Carbon Adsorbent ◽

Chromatographic Determination ◽

State University ◽

Soil Air ◽

Carbon Monolith ◽

Volatile Organic ◽

Chromatographic Peaks

The possibility of using a new graphene-based carbon monolith for searching new oil deposits or branches adjacent to the already registered oilfields by areal geochemical survey is demonstrated. The material has been developed at the Faculty of Chemistry of M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University. Sorption of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from soil air at the oilfield was carried out using two sorbents (carbon adsorbent and Tenax-TA traditionally used for such analyses) with subsequent determination by gas chromatography with mass spectrometric detection and thermal desorption as a way of sample injection (TD/GC/MS). The new material absorbs more hydrocarbons (n-alkanes and monoaromatics) in the range from C8 to C16 than Tenax-TA, the intensities of the chromatographic peaks of the compounds also being higher. The phenomenon of irreversible sorption from carbon materials is observed for VOCs from C17 and more. However, the concentration of such substances in the soil air is rather low due to the low pressure of saturated vapors of these compounds under normal conditions. Hence, the chromatogram of carbon monolith reflects the macro-characteristics of this oil deposit better than Tenax-TA. To increase the sensitivity of the determination, a preliminary optimization of thermal desorption conditions was carried out. The values of the helium flow rate through the sorbent sample and the desorption time of the compounds are chosen to get the largest peak area. The regeneration of sorbent samples is carried out to provide the possibility of their reusage. Tenax-TA decomposes at lower temperatures compared to carbon sorbent and thus cannot be purified completely unlike the new monolith. The graphene-based sorbent is reusable and much cheaper in the manufacture than imported polymer Tenax-TA since it is made of domestic materials.

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