Modelling and implementation of an in-situ thermally regenerated adsorption module for removing gaseous xylene

The technology of in-situ thermally regenerated air purifiers (TRAP) can effectively recover adsorbents’ adsorption capacity, which is promising for low-concentration uncontinuous waste gas treatments in light pollution industries, such as furniture industries and tire factories. This study aims to provide a design model for the adsorption behaviours of the TRAP module under various practical situations in the furniture industry. We propose a dimensionless parameter (the Number of Mass Transfer Units, NTUm) to predict the one-pass efficiency. A TRAP module consisting of multiple flexible and thin adsorption boards was developed to validate the model experimentally. The polluted air with xylene flows through the module and is adsorbed by the boards. When the adsorption boards are saturated, the heating plate will be electrically heated to about 80 °C, releasing xylene from the boards and regenerating their adsorption performance. The modelling results agree with the experimental results., which indicate that the NTUm is a crucial and helpful parameter in enhancing the efficiency of the TRAP module.