Activated carbon-filled sponge for air purification

Abstract

PVA sponge filled with activated carbon, for air purification application, was developed in this work. Activated carbon was added to the reacting mass of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), formaldehyde and acid. Variables that affect sponge quality were investigated. They are molecular weight of PVA, composition of reacting mass, and reaction time. Unfilled sponge of good quality, having uniform pore size between 0.5-1.0 millimeters and uniform pore distribution, can be produced using reacting mass consisting of 62.3% of 10% PVA solution of 64,500 molecular weight, 13.44% of 37% formaldehyde solution, 1.0% of sodium lauryl sulfate and 23.03% of 98% sulfuric acid solution. The time for reaction and curing should exceed 18 hours. The maximum quantity of activated carbon that could be added was 6.25% by weight of PVA solution. Thus the density of carbon-filled sponge was 0.043 g/cm3. The activated carbon-filled sponge can adsorb 82.09% of hexane from the air having 0.075 g-hexane per g-air that flows through it.