Research progress on adsorption purification technology of gaseous polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are pollutants that have attracted great attention in recent years regarding the issue of atmospheric pollution. Being harmful to human health, PAHs also promote the growth of secondary particles. Consequently, several countries have begun to control the emission of PAHs in exhaust gases with different techniques, which is a hot topic in the atmospheric environment field. Adsorption is one of the most significant methods and has been accepted by industries, of which the adsorbent properties are key factors. Researchers have studied the adsorption equilibrium, kinetics, and desorption properties of PAHs as special low-volatile gases on conventional activated carbons and novel mesoporous adsorbents. They have also examined the optimal balance between adsorption and desorption based on the corresponding adsorbents. In this paper, these results and related applications are reviewed, and the advantages of mesoporous adsorbents over traditional adsorbents on purifying PAHs are specifically analyzed. This work can be a reference for future studies on the adsorption purification of PAHs and other low-volatile gases.