Patent ID: 7316731

Claim:
A method for removing a contaminant from a gaseous stream bearing the contaminant comprising: i) flowing the gaseous stream bearing the contaminant into a chamber housing a resilient compressible electrically conductive, activated carbon cloth material, ii) adsorbing said contaminant on said cloth material with formation of a carbon cloth material loaded with said contaminant, and a gaseous stream liberated of said contaminant, and removing said gaseous stream from said chamber; iii) discontinuing the flow of gaseous stream bearing the contaminant into the chamber, placing said chamber under vacuum and passing an electric current through said carbon cloth material loaded with said contaminant to generate heat in said carbon cloth material effective to desorb said contaminant from said carbon cloth material, while maintaining said vacuum; and wherein said activated carbon cloth material in step i) comprises a plurality of layers of electrically conductive activated carbon cloth, wherein each layer of said plurality of layers is in electrical contact with at least an adjacent layer of said plurality of layers, and said plurality of layers is disposed between, and in electrical contact with. first and second spaced apart electrodes, and step iii) comprises altering the level of compression of said material to vary the generation of heat to a desired level for desorption of said contaminant from said carbon cloth material.