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In occupational hygiene, activated carbon produced from coconut shell is a common adsorbent material for harmful substances including organic vapors due to its outstanding adsorption capacity and cost advantage. However, moisture adsorption of the carbon generally decreases the adsorption capacity for organic vapors. In a previous report, we prepared several coconut shell activated carbons which had been preconditioned by equilibration with moisture at different relative humidities and measured the breakthrough times for 6 kinds of organic vapor, in order to clarify the effect of preliminary moisture content in activated carbon on the adsorption capacity in detail. We found that the relative percent weight increase due to moisture adsorption of the carbon specimen had a quantitative effect, reducing the breakthrough time. In this report, we carried out further measurements of the effect of moisture content on the adsorption of 13 kinds of organic vapor, and investigated the relationship between moisture adsorption and the reduction of the breakthrough time of activated carbon specimens. We also applied the data to the Wood's breakthrough time estimation model which is an extension of the Wheeler-Jonas equation.

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.

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