Study of nonlinear wave propagation theory. II. Interference phenomena of single-component dye adsorption waves

Yellow acid dye was adsorbed from aqueous solution by granular activated ca rbon packed in a column. The feed concentration was kept constant for a per iod of time and then switched to another level to simulate the concentratio n variation in wastewater treatment processes. The resulting breakthrough c urves were experimentally measured and theoretically predicted. Explicit eq uations and an algorithm were developed based on the wave interference theo ry to predict the column breakthrough curves of single-component adsorption processes with step change in the feed concentration. The experimental res ults show that the wave interference theory predicts the column breakthroug h curves satisfactorily.