TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER

PAGE

ABSTRACT (Mandatory)................................................................................................................i
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................ii
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS (Optional)............................................................................................iii
PREFACE (Optional).....................................................................................................................iv
LIST OF TABLES...........................................................................................................................v
LIST OF FIGURES........................................................................................................................vi
LIST OF SCHEMES.....................................................................................................................vii
DISCUSSION
CHAPTER 1 Introduction.................................................................................................1
Nanotechnology for the adsorption of toxic gases...............................................................4
CHAPTER 3 Results.......................................................................................................18
CHAPTER 4 Discussion................................................................................................38
CHAPTER 5 Summary, Conclusion, Recommendation................................................53
CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................57
REFERENCE ................................................................................................................................75

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ABSTRACT
Nowadays, the issue of environmental pollution has become a popular issue.
Environmental pollution, mainly caused by toxic chemicals, includes air, water, and soil
pollution. Destruction of biodiversity is not only results for this pollution, but also the
degradation of human health. Pollution levels that are increasing day by day need better
developments or technological discoveries immediately. As science and engineering was
revolutionary approach, nanotechnology has the potential to have major consequences on the
environment. Nanotechnology offers many advantages to improve existing environmental
technologies and create new technology that is better than current technology. Nanotechnology
can be of benefit to environmental protection in applications such as reducing use of raw and
manufactured materials (dematerialization), minimizing or eliminating the generation of wastes
and effluents, and reducing toxics. The environment is also protected in applications that more
effectively treat waste streams and remediate existing polluted sites.
.
Nanotechnology for the adsorption of toxic gases

Toxic gases is the one of application of nanotechnology in the ambient air can also be
cleaned by nanotechnology. An example nanotechnology application in toxic gas cleaning is the
process of CNTs and gold particles adsorption. CNTs consist of a hexagonal arrangement of
carbon atoms in graphene sheets that surround the tube axis. There is a strong interaction
between the two benzene rings of dioxin and the surface of CNTs. In addition, dioxin molecules
interact with the entire surface of nanotubes with a porous wall, i.e. 2.9 nm, and the possibility of
overlapping events that increase the adsorption potential inside the pores. Strong oxidation
resistance of CNTs has also been beneficial for the regeneration of the adsorbent at high
temperatures.

These nanomaterials have shown to have good potential as superior adsorbents to remove
various types of organic and inorganic pollutants, both in air streams and in an aqueous
environment. In this sense, nanotechnology has four main capabilities that can be applied in the

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fields of adsorptions, including the adsorption of dioxin, NOx adsorption, removal of volatile
organic compound form, and isopropyl alcohol adsorption.

Adsorption of dioxins
Dioxin compounds are mainly generated from the combustion of organic compounds in
waste incineration. Dioxin compounds formed from combustion have concentrations in the range
of 10500 ng/m3. Nevertheless, it is generally necessary to reduce dioxin concentrations to
below 1 ng/m3. The possibilities of reduction of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and
polychlorinated dibenzofurans emission, there are stable and highly toxic pollutants.2,3,7,8Tetraklorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) is a compound that is known to be carcinogenic to humans.
Dioxins also affect the immune and endocrine systems and foetal development. Dioxin removal
efficiency using an activated carbon adsorbent is much higher than other adsorbents because the
bond energy between dioxin and activated carbon is higher than with other adsorbents, such as
clay, -Al2O3 and zeolites
A more efficient adsorbent than activated carbon is required so that the dioxin emissions
can be reduced to a lower level. In this case, a researcher have found that the interaction of
dioxin with CNTs is nearly three times stronger than the interaction of dioxin with activated
carbon. This improvement is probably due to the nanotube curved surface compared with those
for flat sheets that gives stronger interaction forces between dioxin and CNTs.

NO x adsorption
There has been a major effort in the development of technologies to eliminate the emissions of
NO x (mixture of NO and NO2) from fossil fuel combustion. Common adsorbent used to remove
NO x at low temperatures include ion exchange zeolites, activated carbon and FeOOH dispersed
on active carbon fibre. NO can be effectively adsorbed to activated carbon due to the reactivity
of surface functional groups, although the amount of adsorbed species is still not significant.

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NO x adsorption may be related to the unique structures, electronic properties and surface
functional groups of CNTs. When NO and O2 pass through CNTs, NO is oxidized to NO2 and
then adsorbed on the surface of nitrate specie. High catalytic activity of pitch-based activated
carbon fibers of moderate surface area for oxidation of NO to NO2 at room temperature.
Compared with NO or NO2, SO2 can also be adsorbed on CNTs, even though the adsorption rate
is not promising while CO2 is much less adsorbed on CNTs.
Removal of volatile organic compounds from air
The results showed that all three pollutants in the air were very effectively removed and
degraded by this catalyst compared with the conventional catalyst systems. It involves highly
porous manganese oxide with gold nanoparticles that are grown into it.
One reason for the success is porous manganese oxide which has a much larger surface area than
all previously known compounds. This large surface area causes better adsorption of volatile
molecules. In addition, the adsorbed pollutants are decomposed effectively. Degradation on the
surface is very effective because of the presence of free radicals. The presence of gold
nanoparticles helps to reduce the barrier of radical formation that is usually very high. This
process has opened the possibility for other nano-metal components to be applied.
Isopropyl alcohol adsorption
In addition to being used as a solvent, isopropyl alcohol (IPA) is often used in the manufacture of
optoelectronic devices and semiconductors. Owing to the lack of air pollution control, IPA
vapour is released into the atmosphere without any treatment. The release of IPA vapour can
cause harm to human health as it is irritating and carcinogenic.

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Figure 1: The capacity of physical and chemical adsorption of the adsorbent of IPA
During the adsorption process, IPA has been attracted by physical and chemical interaction.
Physical adsorption is due to van der Waals forces between adsorbates and adsorbent while
chemical adsorption occurs due to the chemical interaction between adsorbate molecules and
adsorbent surface functional groups. The distinction between these two processes is very useful
for understanding the factors that affect the rate of adsorption. Figure 1 shows the physical (q ep )
and chemical (q ec ) IPA adsorption capacity of adsorbent with IPA inlet concentration of 500
ppmv. After the SWNTs were oxidized by HNO3 solution and NaClO, the q ep value increased
from 29.5 mg/g to 42.7 and 39.5 mg/g, respectively, and q ec increased from 10.8 mg/g to 26.8
and 43.5 mg/g, respectively. The improvement in q ep can be attributed to the pore size of SWNTs
which decreased to nearly the size of IPA molecules, thus increasing the physical strength of the
bond between SWNTs and IPA vapour. In addition, the increased surface area of micro-pores can
increase the bond strength. The improvement in q ec could be due to an increase in the basic
surface sites. For relatively low inlet concentration (C in ) of IPA, the IPA vapour adsorption
mechanism on SWNTs and SWNTs/NaClO is produced mainly by physical force, whereas for
relatively high C in , the IPA vapour adsorption mechanism on SWNTs/NaClO can be generated
either by physical or chemical forces.

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4. POLLUTION PREVENTION
Pollution prevention refers to source reduction and other practices that efficiently use
raw materials, energy, water, or other resources to reduce or eliminate creation of waste. This
strategy also includes using less toxic and renewable reagents and processing materials, where
possible, and the production of more environmentally benign manufactured products. As an
emerging and multidisciplinary field, nanoscale science and engineering has enjoyed an
explosive development over the last decade or so. Meanwhile, the unique physical and chemical
properties of nanoscale materials have attracted growing interest in their potential environmental
applications for tackling traditionally difficult remediation problems. Nanotechnology plays a
vital role in air and water pollution control. Air Pollution: Air pollution can be remediated using
nanotechnology in several ways. One is through the use of nano-catalysts with increased surface
area for gaseous reactions. Catalysts work by speeding up chemical reactions that transform
harmful vapors from cars and industrial plants into harmless gases. Catalysts currently in use
include a nanofiber catalyst made of manganese oxide that removes volatile organic compounds
from industrial smokestacks Other methods are still in development. Another approach uses
nanostructured membranes that have pores small enough to separate methane or carbon dioxide
from exhaust. carbon nanotubes (CNT) are used for trapping greenhouse gas emissions caused
by coal mining and power generation. CNT can trap gases up to a hundred times faster than other
methods, allowing integration into large-scale industrial plants and power stations. This new
technology both processes and separates large volumes of gas effectively, unlike conventional
membranes that can only do one or the other effectively.

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