4-Nitrophenol (4NP) is a vital intermediate in organic industries, and its exploitation creates serious environmental issues. We propose a fluorescence quenching-based strategy with nitrogen and sulfur co-doped carbon dots (NS-CDs) for highly sensitive 4NP detection with excellent selectivity. The NS-CDs are produced through the hydrothermal process, in which citric acid serves as a carbon source and cysteamine hydrochloride as a source of N and S. The effect of doping was also studied by synthesizing undoped CDs and examining their properties. As-developed NS-CDs exhibit a bright cyan blue color with maximum emission centered at 465 nm. The fluorescence of NS-CDs is significantly quenched in an approximately linear fashion with increasing 4NP concentration (7.5–97.5 μM). The inner filter effect (IFE) and static quenching (SQ) between NS-CDs and 4NP are responsible for such fluorescence reduction. The fluorimetry technique enables the quantification of 4NP with a limit of detection (LOD) of about 0.028 μM. Moreover, the fluorescence quenching is tested for several other chemical compounds but they generate false quenching signals; only 4NP leads to fluorescence quenching of NS-CDs, demonstrating excellent selectivity. The “turn-off” fluorescence properties and visually apparent color change of the fluorescent probe reveal the excellent performance for 4NP sensing. The NS-CDs’ capability of quantifying 4NP in real water samples (tap water and drinking water) produces an excellent recovery rate ranging between 96.24 and 98.36%.

There is a need for the purification of indoor air owing to a high rate of pollution in today’s world. For this, cabin air filters (CAFs) are widely used, which requires the addition of certain adsorbents to increase the volatile organic compound (VOC) removal efficiency. However, this addition causes high-pressure resistance, which may hamper commercial applications by requiring more energy and negatively affecting fresh air delivery rate. Hence, in this study, a high-performance combined CAF (CCAF) with excellent dust and chemical filtration performance and low differential pressure was prepared using granular activated carbon (GAC)/activated carbon fiber (ACF) mixed medium. The GAC/ACF mixed medium had higher air permeability than the ACF medium of the same weight, and it exhibited similar ultrafine dust filtration performance to the ACF medium without an increase in differential pressure. In addition, the GAC/ACF mixed medium showed excellent gas removal performance without increasing differential pressure by combining the VOC removal characteristics of the GAC and ACF filter media. The improved VOC removal performance of the GAC/ACF mixed medium was due to the hybrid effect of the hierarchical pore structures of the GAC and the nearly uniform pore structures of the ACF, which resulted in a slow and increased gas adsorption by the GAC and rapid gas adsorption of the ACF.

This study was carried out considering that activated carbon physically adsorbs radon. Among the air cleaners equipped with activated carbon filter, eight air cleaners sold in Korea were selected and the radon reduction rate experiment was conducted. The instrument used an ionization chamber type instrument with a sensitivity of 3 CPM. The experiment was carried out by excluding the natural rate of reduction of radon in order to accurately grasp the radon reduction rate of activated carbon filter. Of the eight air purifiers, only three showed a reduction rate of more than 30%, while the remaining five air purifiers showed a reduction rate of less than 20%. This does not seem to be much different from the natural reduction rate. In addition, since it is not adsorbed by radon alone due to the nature of activated carbon, it is expected that the reduction rate will be lower in a real life environment.

The characteristics of filter/adsorber granular activated carbon (F/A GAC) were investigated by measuring various parameters, which include surface area, pore volume, abrasion number, floater, and water-soluble ash. The correlation between parameters was also evaluated. Moreover, rapid small-scale column test (RSSCT) was conducted for adsorption characteristics. Thirteen F/A GAC were tested, and the average values of abrasion number and water-soluble ash were 88.9 and 0.15%, respectively. F/A GAC with the larger external surface area and greater mesopore volume had the lower abrasion number, which indicated that it was worn out relatively easily. Water-soluble ash of coconut-based GAC (about 2.6%) was greater than that of coal-based GAC (less than 1%), and the pH of solution was increased with GAC, which had the higher water-soluble ash. On the other hand, floater of thirteen F/A GAC was divided as two groups, which one group had relatively higher floater (2.7~3.5%) and the other group had lower floater (approximately 0.5%). The results of RSSCT indicated that coconut-based GAC (i.e. relatively higher water-soluble ash) had less adsorption capacity. Moreover, adsorption capacity of coal-based GAC with larger surface area and greater mesopore volume was superior to others.

The adsorption of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) was carried out using an activated carbon fiber (ACF) filter in an automobile. The adsorption capacities of formaldehyde, toluene, and benzene on an ACF filter were far better than those of a polypropylene (PP) mat filter and combined (PP+activated carbon) mat filter by batch adsorption in a gas bag. In a continuous flow of air containing toluene vapor through an ACF packed bed, the breakpoint time was very long, the length of the unused bed was short, and sharp "S" -type breakthrough curve was plotted soon after breakpoint, showing a narrow mass transfer zone of toluene on the ACF. The adsorption amount of toluene on the ACF filter was proportional to the specific surface area of the ACF; however, the development of mesopores 2-5 nm in size on the ACF was very effective with regard to the adsorption of toluene. The ACF air clarifier filter is strongly recommended to remove VOCs in newly produced automobiles.

The present research was undertaken to evaluate the possibility of water purification filter with activated carbon fibers (ACFs) using a very low cost precursor consisting of phenolic resin coated on glass fibers. The simplified procedure involving coating, curing and activation and a very low cost glass fiber as a raw material were adopted in order to reduce manufacturing cost. The breakthrough curves of the manufactured ACFs and the commercial activated carbon (AC, Calgon F-200) were investigated in the initial concentration range from 19 to 49 ppm for benzene, toluene and ethylbenzene. From breakthrough profiles, the manufactured ACFs had significantly faster adsorption kinetics than the AC. Especially the benzene breakthrough curves, the manufactured ACF (13 g of ACF with 32% of carbon on the glass) was over the limited level (5 ppb) after flowing of 32 l at initial concentration of 15 ppm, while the commercial AC was shown about 3 ppm in initial adsorption.

Quality test for activated carbon(AC) filter used for drinking water purifier is now an obligatory test and the standard material for valid purifying amount in water purifier performance test has been changed from residual chlorine to chloroform according to the notice of Ministry of Environment in 2006. Therefore, this study aimed to compare the ingredients of AC filters by confirming chloroform removal rate of AC filter and conducting 4 adsorption tests (Iodine, methylene blue decolorization, phenol value, ABS value) for AC filters provided by manufacturers. With water pressure of 1 kgf/cm2, 1,500 liters of prepared inflow went through to check chloroform removal rate. As a result, product with removal rate of below 60% from all products. On the other hand, 4 adsorption tests were conducted for filters in the market and filters from manufacturers. None of the products satisfied all 4 tests. In particular, they showed great shortage to the standard in phenol value and ABS value test. However, manufacturers' filter showed much better performance than filters in the market. Also, the result of valid purifying amount test for each of five products of appropriate product and inappropriate product based on filter quality test showed average 4,440 liters for appropriate product and average 2,620 liters for inappropriate product. According to the result, it is shown that the filter with good adsorption also had good chloroform removal efficiency and adsorption efficiency. Therefore, it is expected that customers can screen good quality product through obligatory conduct of filter quality test. However, it is considered that complementation in system is required for future inspection.