Continuous Trichloroethylene Removal in Internally Recirculating Fluidized Bed of Activated Carbon

Abstract Internally recirculating fluidized bed (IRFB) technology has the potential to offer a compact and efficient solution for continuous removal of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) owing to its unique capability to integrate fluidized bed desorption and moving bed adsorption processes in one‐unit operation. The IRFB prototype developed in the present work employs activated carbon for continuous removal of trichloroethylene (TCE), a hazardous halogenated hydrocarbon and suspected carcinogen. A mathematical model has been developed by using open‐source computational solvers to study the steady‐state performance of IRFB. Borescope and VOC sensing techniques are used for experimental validation of the mathematical model. The solid recirculation rate, average TCE retention on activated carbon particles, and TCE removal efficiency up to 70 g s −1 , 454 mg(TCE) g −1 (AC), and 98 %, respectively, have been attained at steady‐state IRFB operation for the set of operating and design parameters used in the present work.