Recovery and Recycle of HCFCs by Activated Carbon Adsorption

Various chemicals, such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) methyl chloroform, carbon tetrachloride, and halons will be phased out globally by 1995 because of their potential contribution to stratospheric ozone depletion. Hydrochloroflurocarbons (HCFCs) are considered as replacements for the CFCs in certain applications (e.g., solvents and foam expansion agents). In a number of applications, CFCs are recovered using adsorption on activated carbon and reused. In this paper, we have described how to use activated carbon to adsorb 1,1-dichloro-1-fluoroethane (HCFC-141b) from an airstream and later recover and recycle using steam desorption. The capacity of commercially available carbons to adsorb HCFC-141b and conditions to be used in the process are described.