The removal of the acetonitrile using activated carbon-based sorbent impregnated with sodium carbonate

To remove acetonitrile, various activated carbon (AC)-based sorbents impregnated with alkali or alkaline earth metal were tested in a fixed-bed quartz reactor at 30 °C. The AC-based sorbents impregnated with sodium (NaAC) showed more enhanced acetonitrile removal capacities than that of the pure AC sorbent despite a notable decrease in their surface areas and pore volumes. The NaAC-10 sorbent (with 10 wt% sodium carbonate) especially showed an excellent acetonitrile removal capacity (15mg CH3CN/g sorbent) and regeneration ability, which indicates that the alkali metal was the adsorption site of the acetonitrile.