Advisor(s)
Claudiu Lungu
Jonghwa Oh
Committee Member(s)
Evan Floyd
Margaret Osterbind
Vinoy Thomas
Document Type
Dissertation
Date of Award
1-27-2026
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
School
School of Public Health
Department
Environmental Health Sciences
Abstract
Exposure to particulate matter (PM) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in occupational or public settings poses adverse health outcomes such as respiratory, cardiovascular, reproductive, neurological, carcinogenic morbidity and mortality. Many occupational settings expose workers to PM and VOC concurrently, yet most commercially available respirators are designed to address either particulates or vapors alone. This includes air-purifying respirators (APRs), powered air-purifying respirators (PAPRs), and filtering facepiece respirators (FFRs) with nuisance-level vapor protection, often limited by bulk, discomfort, high pressure drop, and misuse. We identified a need for alternative dual-exposure media and a respiratory protection device that is lighter, and more comfortable while still maintaining particulate-vapor protection. Activated carbon fiber (ACF) has emerged as a promising alternative to traditional granular activated carbon (GAC) for dual-protection due to its high surface area and nonwoven structure providing both VOC adsorption and particulate filtration. However, limited research has examined ACFs performance under simultaneous PM/ VOC exposure, a critical gap for real-world applications. This dissertation investigated adsorption and filtration performance of ACF when challenged with toluene vapors and aerosolized sodium chloride (NaCl) under sequential and simultaneous exposure conditions. VOC (toluene) breakthrough and particulate filtration efficiency testing were conducted across multiple ACF layer configurations to characterize the influence of exposure sequences VOC-PM or PM-VOC, as well as simultaneous PM/VOC exposure. Results indicated that ACF supports particulate filtration and VOC adsorption when exposed to either PM or toluene first, or both PM and toluene simultaneously. In combination with testing ACF for use as dual PM/VOC media, a respirator cartridge prototype was designed using AutoCAD to demonstrate the feasibility of integrating ACF into a lightweight dual-protection respirator which could address limitations of conventional respirators, including bulk, weight, and breathing resistance, which can lead to issues with user compliance and overall protection. This work provides new insights into the mechanisms governing ACFs VOC retention and particulate filtration and offers a practical pathway for developing the next generation of dual-protection respirators for complex co-exposure occupational environments.
Keywords
Activated Carbon Fiber;Adsorption;Filtration;Industrial Hygiene;Particulate Matter;Personal Protective Equipment
ProQuest Publication Number
32283652
ProQuest ID
ISBN
9798273349599
Recommended Citation
McMahan, Brie, "Analysis of Activated Carbon Fiber (ACF) as Particulate Filtration and Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) Media for the Development of a Dual-Air Purifying Facepiece Respirator" (2026). ETDs from 2020-2029. 34.
https://digitalcommons.library.uab.edu/etd-2020s/34
