Investigation of formaldehyde removal from syntheticudcontaminated air by using human hair

摘要

Background: Human hair can be used as an inexpensive and accessible adsorbent to remove a varietyudof pollutants from air. Although several studies have been done on removal of formaldehyde fromudwastewater by human hair, to date no study has investigated using hair to remove formaldehyde fromudair. Therefore, the aim of this study was to remove formaldehyde from synthetic contaminated air by audreactor packed with human hair.udMethods: Air contaminated with formaldehyde was introduced into a cylindrical reactor packed withudhuman hair at the initial concentration of 8500 mg/L. Formaldehyde concentration was measured in theudinfluent and effluent of the reactor to indicate formaldehyde removal efficiency. Other measurementsudof parameters effective on formaldehyde removal were taken including amount of human hair andudenvironmental temperature.udResults: Results of this study revealed that each gram of human hair was able to remove 0.13 to 0.49 gudof formaldehyde from air. Human hair adsorbed 98% of formaldehyde from synthetic contaminated airudunder 20˚C. These results demonstrate that increased temperature had a negative effect on formaldehydeudremoval.udConclusion: Results of this study show that human hair can be applied as a simple and inexpensiveudadsorbent to remove formaldehyde from industrial air exhaust. In addition, results of these tests can beudconsidered as a small step to promote better air quality.udKeywords: Formaldehyde, Human hair, Adsorption process, Air treatment