Respiratory cartridge efficiency studies: VIII. summary and conclusions.

The theory of solvent vapor adsorption of activated carbon is reviewed. Calculated and experimental cartridge service life values are compared using various breathing rates, relative humidities, concentrations and solvent vapors. Cartridge service life (the 10% breakthrough time) can be estimated from the emperical expression: t 10% = 2.4 X 10(6) WC (A + BT)/C 2/3 MQ Carbon weight (wc), relative solvent volatility (a, b and t) concentration (C), molecular weight (M) and breathing rate (Q) all play a vital role in cartridge performance predictions.