Quantitative evaluation of the effect of moisture contents of coconut shell activated carbon used for respirators on adsorption capacity for organic vapors.

Activated carbon is an elemental material used for hygienic applications, particularly as an adsorbent for harmful gases and vapors. In Japanese industrial and occupational hygiene, activated carbon produced from coconut shell is a traditional and popular adsorbent material due to its excellent adsorption ability and cost advantage. In this research, in order to clarify the effect of the preliminary content of moisture on the adsorption capacity in detail, we prepared several coconut shell activated carbons which were preconditioned by equilibration with moisture at different relative humidities. We measured their adsorption capacities as breakthrough times for 6 kinds of organic vapor, and attempted to determine the relationships between the relative weight increase of water adsorption and the decrease of adsorption capacities of the activated carbon specimens for the organic vapors. The procedure of the quantitative evaluation of the effect of moisture and the results are useful for practical applications of activated carbon, particularly those used as adsorbents in workplaces.