Adsorption of ammonia on treated stainless steel and polymer surfaces

Adsorption of dynamically diluted ammonia at part-per-billion to low part-per-million concentrations in dry nitrogen was studied with treated and non-treated stainless steel and polymer test tubes. The treatments included electropolishing and two types of coatings based on amorphous silicon. Cavity ring-down spectroscopy with an external cavity diode laser operating in the near-infrared wavelength range was used to monitor the adsorption process in real time in continuous-flow conditions to obtain quantitative assessment of the adsorptive properties of the studied surfaces. The investigated polymers were all less adsorptive than any of the treated or non-treated stainless steel surfaces. Some of the commercial coatings reduced the adsorption loss of stainless steel by a factor of ten or more. Polyvinylidene fluoride was found to be superior (less adsorption) to the four other studied polymer coatings. The number of adsorbed ammonia molecules per surface area obtained at different ammonia gas phase concentrations was modeled with Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms. The time behavior of the adsorption–desorption process occurring in the time scale of seconds and minutes was simulated with a simple kinetic model.

[1]  Lauri Halonen,et al.  Direct detection of acetylene in air by continuous wave cavity ring-down spectroscopy , 2010 .

[2]  M. Bae,et al.  A laboratory intercomparison of real-time gaseous ammonia measurement methods. , 2007, Environmental science & technology.

[3]  P Hess,et al.  Effects of adsorption-desorption processes on the response time and accuracy of photoacoustic detection of ammonia. , 2001, Applied optics.

[4]  Garry L. Grabow,et al.  Ammonia Adsorption in Five Types of Flexible Tubing Materials , 2006 .

[5]  D. Fowler,et al.  Ammonia emissions from non-agricultural sources in the UK , 2000 .

[6]  A. Berg,et al.  Ammonia sensors and their applications - a review , 2005 .

[7]  D. Romanini,et al.  CW cavity ring down spectroscopy , 1997 .

[8]  J. Henningsen,et al.  A photoacoustic study of adsorption , 1999 .

[9]  I. Langmuir.  THE ADSORPTION OF GASES ON PLANE SURFACES OF GLASS, MICA AND PLATINUM. , 1918 .

[10]  Martin Gallagher,et al.  Field inter-comparison of eleven atmospheric ammonia measurement techniques , 2009 .

[11]  Elizabeth Pattey,et al.  Characterizing a Quantum Cascade Tunable Infrared Laser Differential Absorption Spectrometer (QC-TILDAS) for measurements of atmospheric ammonia , 2009 .

[12]  C. Forsblom,et al.  Ammonia in breath and emitted from skin , 2013, Journal of breath research.

[13]  C. Hansen.  Water transport and condensation in fluoropolymer films , 2001 .

[14]  Martin Gallagher,et al.  Seasonal and Diurnal Variation in Atmospheric Ammonia in an Urban Environment Measured Using a Quantum Cascade Laser Absorption Spectrometer , 2007 .

[15]  T Prabhakar Clement,et al.  A modified Langmuir-Freundlich isotherm model for simulating pH-dependent adsorption effects. , 2012, Journal of contaminant hydrology.

[16]  Saqib Mukhtar,et al.  Assessment of Ammonia Adsorption onto Teflon and LDPE Tubing Used in Pollutant Stream Conveyance , 2003 .

[17]  Sanjay B. Shah,et al.  Measuring Ammonia Concentrations and Emissions from Agricultural Land and Liquid Surfaces: A Review , 2006, Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association.

[18]  S. Mikhailenko,et al.  High sensitivity CW-cavity ring down spectroscopy of water in the region of the 1.5 μm atmospheric window , 2004 .

[19]  M E Webber,et al.  Ammonia Monitoring Near 1.5 mum with Diode-Laser Absorption Sensors. , 2001, Applied optics.

[20]  Giel Berden,et al.  Cavity ring-down spectroscopy : techniques and applications , 2009 .

[21]  J. Seinfeld,et al.  Ternary nucleation of H2SO4, NH3, and H2O in the atmosphere , 1999 .

[22]  Helena Järnström,et al.  The Impact of Emissions from Structures on Indoor Air Concentrations in Newly Finished Buildings — Predicted and On-Site Measured Levels , 2008 .

[23]  D. Fowler,et al.  Evaluation of laser absorption spectroscopic techniques for eddy covariance flux measurements of ammonia. , 2008, Environmental science & technology.

[24]  Giel Berden,et al.  Cavity ring down spectroscopy , 2009 .

[25]  K. W. Van der Hoek.  Estimating ammonia emission factors in Europe: Summary of the work of the UNECE ammonia expert panel , 1998 .

[26]  J. Henningsen,et al.  Sensitive measurement of adsorption dynamics with nonresonant gas phase photoacoustics. , 1997, Applied optics.