Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are used widely as solvents in painting (e.g., stripping and coating), drug manufacturing, cleaning, degreasing, metal fabrication, electronics manufacturing, and many other industries. Release of VOCs has caused a hazardous situation not only to human health but also to the environment, such as chloroglurocarbons contributing to the depletion of the ozone in the stratosphere. Stricter regulations have been established to control VOC release. NOXSO Corporation is proposing to use organophillic pillared montmorillonite (OPM) to capture and control VOCs. This is a new application for the OPMs. Montmorillonite clays have aluminosilicate layers which posses negative charges due to the substitutions in the crystal lattice. This charge is countered by cations between the layers. Layers are weakly held together by electrostatic charges and can be separated in water. This practice allows exchange of the interlayer cations with other cations in the solution, and results in a permanent layer separation which allows access between the layers and the tailoring of the chemical characteristics of the pillared montmorillonite by choice of the appropriate exchange ions. Phase I will investigate the technical feasibility of this novel VOCs control technology. If Phase I is successful, Phase II will evaluate the technology at pilot scale.
