Worth a mention is that the presence of chlorides may require a more exotic material for the incinerator and heat exchanger. Also, streams containing chlorides can produce HCl when burned and the acid can attack some catalysts. Other compability issues also have to be addressed before using catalytic incineration. Regenerative carbon adsorption is where a gas stream passes through a bed of activated carbon. The VOC are adsorbed into the carbon.
Regeneration consists of stripping with low pressure steam followed by air drying.
Water and VOC are recovered by condensation. Economics usually favor this process when the VOC are insoluble in water and are liquids at room temperatures. Under these conditions, the VOC do not bind well to the carbon. Using carbon adsorption for ketones is also not recommended due to their tendency to polymerize on the carbon's surface thereby deactivating the carbon. Activated carbon will typically have a loading capacity of 0.3 lbs of VOC per pound of carbon at 100 ppm and 0.15 lbs of VOC per pound of carbon at 5 ppm.