Using GAC to Remove VOCs From Air Stripper Off-Gas

This article focuses on the technical and economic feasibility of treating air stripper off-gas with granular activated carbon (GAC). For dichloroethene and trichloroethene, air stripping followed by off-gas GAC treatment was shown to be very effective and economical compared with aqueous-phase GAC treatment, with GAC usage rates for gas-phase adsorption being less than one half those for aqueous-phase adsorption. Also, because gas-phase adsorption kinetics are much faster than liquid-phase kinetics, the required bed depth and diameter are much smaller for gas-phase beds. Steam regeneration was found to be ineffective for regeneration gas-phase GAC at low concentrations.