Adsorption/desorption of toluene on a hypercrosslinked polymeric resin in a highly humid gas stream

In many sources of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), large amounts of water vapor come from the air and the reactors. The relative humidity (RH) of exhaust gas is normally > 60% and is supersaturated. Maintaining the property of adsorbent on VOCs in a highly humid gas stream is a serious industrial problem. In this study, the adsorption/desorption behavior of toluene in a micro-mesoporous polymeric resin was investigated in a highly humid environment to explore the influence of abound water vapor on resin adsorption and regeneration. This resin could selectively adsorb toluene at an RH of 80%, and its adsorption property was unaffected by the presence of water vapor. In the case of humidity saturation, the resin displayed a high adsorption capacity at a moisture content of < 30%. Therefore, the polymer resin is an excellent water-resistant adsorbent of VOCs. In the regenerative experiment, the resin maintained its original adsorption capability after four adsorption/desorption cycles of toluene purging with nitrogen gas at 120 °C. The resin exhibited excellent regeneration performance at high humidity.