THE QUANTITATIVE USE OF THE BOHART-ADAMS EQUATION TO DESCRIBE EFFLUENT VAPOR PROFILES FROM FILTER BEDS

In studies of the removal of gases and vapours of varying volatility f rom a N-2 stream by adsorbent filter beds it is shown, for the first t ime, that the Bohart-Adams equation, first proposed over 70 years ago, can with slight modification be used to give good quantitative fits t o the effluent vapour profiles at 0% R.H. This was true for convention al carbons and both carbonised and uncarbonised macroreticular resins, and for vapours reversibly adsorbed. Desorption profiles could only b e fitted to the equation for the most volatile sorbates. Under conditi ons of high humidity, when water displacement competes with sorbate up take, then adherence to the equation only occurs at intermediate vapou r volatility.