Compounds having a molecular weight
over 50 and a boiling point greater
than 50 degrees centigrade are good
candidates for adsorption. TABLE II
presents a representative list of organic
compounds and their relative adsorption
strength. Organic contaminants are
often classified as weakly, moderately,
or strongly adsorbed. You will note that
a compound such as nitrobenzene having
a molecular weight of 123 and a
boiling point of 211 C is characterized
as a very strong adsorber. On the other
hand a compound such as methane
which has a molecular weight of 16 and
a boiling point of –161 C is a very
weakly adsorbed compound. In fact, at
this capacity, for all practical purposes,
methane removal with activated carbon
would not be cost eff e c t i v e