Evaluation of physical parameters for protective clothing in hazardous environments. Important criteria for hot climates

The pore size distribution and active surface area are inherent characteristics of activated charcoal. Adsorption under dynamic air flow conditions, however, influences the adsorption capacity and adsorption rate constant of bis(2-chloroethyl)sulphide on the charcoal. In this paper we investigated the use of rate constants and adsorption capacity to determine the protection provided by textiles containing activated charcoal rather than using the usual breakthrough or protection time. The variation in adsorption capacity was not linear with the variation in ambient temperature and exposure concentration. It was found that high rate constants and adsorption capacities are not necessarily synonymous. A pore distribution containing mesopores and micropores rather than mainly micropores could yield high rate constants. The study showed that different carbon characteristics can lead to different protection levels and be applied as protective textiles.