Evaporative emissions, a major cause of air pollution, are primarily produced by automobiles and can be recovered using adsorbents. This study investigated the effect of the textural properties of polyimide (PI)-based activated carbon fibers (PIACFs) on the adsorption and desorption performance of n-butane, which are a type of evaporative emissions. PI-ACFs were prepared by varying the activation time while maintaining the identical crosslinking and carbonization conditions. The surface morphology and microstructural properties of the ACFs were examined using a field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD), respectively. The textural properties of ACF (specific surface area, pore volume, and pore size distribution) were analyzed using N2/ 77 K adsorption and desorption isotherm curves. The n-butane adsorption and desorption performance were evaluated according to modified ASTM D5228. From the results, the specific surface area and total pore volume of ACFs were determined to be 680–1480 m2/ g and 0.28–1.37 cm3/ g, respectively. Butane activity (BA) of the ACFs increased from 14.1% to 37.1% as the activation time increased, and especially it was found to have highly correlated with pore volume in the 1.5–4.0 nm range.

In this study, Pitch-derived activated carbon (PAC) pellets were by steam activation for automotive carbon canisters. The crystal structure of PAC was analyzed using X-ray diffraction. The textural properties of PAC were studied by Brunauer– Emmett–Teller (BET), Horvath-Kawazoe (HK), and Non-Localized Density Functional Theory (NLDFT) equations with N2/ 77 K isotherm adsorption/ desorption curves. The butane adsorption capacity of the PAC pellets was analyzed according to the ASTM D5228 standard. With increasing steam activation time, the specific surface area and total pore volume of the PAC increased 650–1950 m2/ g and 0.27–1.02 cm3/ g, respectively. The mesopore ratio of PAC increased with increasing activation time and was observed up to 28.4% at 190 min. The butane adsorption capacity of the PAC increased and was observed to range from 10.86 to 51.55%. A close relationship between butane adsorption capacity and pore size (1.47–2.39 nm) was found. Finally, the butane activity of PAC was found to be 51.55% for the steam activated at 950 ℃ for 190 min; this butane activity is 24% better than that of the coconut-derived activated carbon (41.43%) with a similar specific surface area, indicating that pitch is a suitable material for the activated carbon of automotive carbon canisters.

In this work, the correlation between the pore characteristics of activated carbon (AC) and the adsorption/desorption characteristics of evaporated fuel was studied. AC was prepared by various physical re-activation methods using coconut-derived commercial AC. Pore characteristics of the re-activated AC were investigated using N2/ 77 K adsorption isotherms. The structural characteristics of the AC were observed by X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy. The butane working capacity was observed according to ASTM D5228. From the results, the specific surface area and total pore volume of the ACs were determined to be 1380–2040 m2/g and 0.60–0.96 cm3/g, respectively. It was also observed that various pore size distributions were found to be dependent on the functions of the activation method and time. A close relationship between butane activity/ retentivity and micropore/mesopore volumes was found. In addition, it was inferred that the volume fraction of micropores and sub-mesopores with diameters between 1.5 and 3.0 nm primarily controls butane activity.

정삼투 공정은 높은 압력을 가하여 담수를 얻는 역삼투 공정과 달리 부가적인 압력의 사용 없이 구동이 가능하여 에너지 효율 면에서 많은 이점을 가지고 있다. 특히, 정삼투 공정의 경우 해수담수화, 폐수처리, 음용수 생산 등 많은 범 위에서 응용되고 있다. 정삼투 공정의 성능은 유도용질에 의존하는데 높은 삼투 압, 높은 용해도, 낮은 점도, 낮은 염의 역확산, 저렴한 단가, 무독성 물질 등을 갖춘 유도용액이 우수한 유도용액이라고 할 수 있다. 과거 Ammonium bicarbonate, conventional salts 등을 이용한 유도용질을 비롯하여, 최근 magnetic nanoparticles, dendrimer 등을 이용한 유도용질 개발이 활발히 진행되고 있다. 본 연구에서는 높은 용해도를 가진 butane tetracarboxylic acid와 lithium, sodium, potassium 금속염을 합성하였으며, 합성된 유도용질들의 정삼투 성능평가를 수행 비교하였다.

The consequence analysis for the unconfined vapor cloud explosion(UVCE) accident by the continuous release of butane vapor was performed and effects of process parameters on consequences were analyzed in standard conditions. For the case of continuous release(87.8 kg/s) of butane vapor at 8 m elevated height in the debutanizing process of tile naphtha cracking plant operating at 877 kPa ＆ 346.75 K, we found that combustion ranges of dispersed vapor estimated by HMP model were 11.2~120.2 m and overpressures estimated by TNT equivalency model at 200 m were about 37.35~55.1 kPa. Also, overpressures estimated by Model UVCE I based on advective travel time to XLFL were smaller than those estimated by Model UVCE IIbased on real travel time between XUFL and XLFL. At the same time, damage intensities at 200 m and effect ranges by overpressure could be predicted. Furthermore, simulation results showed that effects of operating pressures on consequences were larger than those of operating temperatures and results of accidents were increased with increasing operating pressures. At this time, sensitivities of overpressures for UVCE accident by the continuous release were about 5 kPa/atm.