Solvent vapor recovery by pressure swing adsorption. III. Comparison of simulation with experiment for the butane-activated carbon system

A fully predictive (no adjustable parameters), nonisothermal, multicomponen t mathematical model was developed and used to simulate a pressure swing ad sorption (PSA) process designed for the separation and recovery of concentr ated butane vapor from nitrogen using BAX activated carbon. Nearly quantita tive agreement with experiment was realized with this model over a wide ran ge of process conditions, and for both the transient and periodic state pro cess dynamics and the periodic state process performance. The model also ve rified some unique characteristics of this PSA process, and it revealed som e of the subtleties associated with accurately simulating a PSA-solvent vap or recovery (SVR) process. These subtleties included the need to account fo r the adsorbate heat capacity and the temperature dependence of the gas-pha se physical properties. No PSA models in the literature have included both of these features, which were critical to the accurate prediction of the he at effects in this PSA-SVR process.