MEASUREMENT OF MULTICOMPONENT ADSORPTION-KINETICS OF GASES IN ACTIVATED CARBON BY A BATCH ADSORBER FT-IR TECHNIQUE

Single- and multicomponent systems of ethane, propane and n-butane ads orbing onto Ajar activated carbon were studied with a batch adsorber F T-IR technique. Pure-component single and binary systems of ethane-pro pane, ethane-n-butane and propane-n-butane and ternary systems of etha ne, propane and n-butane were studied. System temperatures were at 10, 30 and 60 degrees C. Effects of competition and temperature were exam ined qualitatively, and then compared to a model(HMSMD) proposed by Hu and Do (1993a, A.I.Ch.E. J. 39, 1628-1640), which has been shown to b e accurate in predicting multicomponent dynamics in a differential ads orption bed (DAB) system, in which the external concentration was main tained constant throughout the course of adsorption. Qualitatively the data were in general agreement with expectation, although some anomal ies were apparent. Data quality decreased with increasing temperature due to errors in IR signal resolution. For single-component systems, a greement with the model was good for ethane, fair for propane and poor for n-butane. Agreement between the model and binary or ternary syste ms was generally poor. A pore mouth resistance mechanism, inadequate d escription of multicomponent equilibria or surface heterogeneity may b e responsible for the observed discrepancies.