Modeling Competitive Adsorption of Mixtures of Volatile Organic Compounds in a Fixed-Bed of Beaded Activated Carbon

Abstract

A two-dimensional mathematical model was developed to study competitive adsorption of n-component mixtures in a fixed-bed adsorber. The model consists of an isotherm equation to predict adsorption equilibria of n-component volatile organic compounds (VOCs) mixture from single component isotherm data, and a dynamic adsorption model, the macroscopic mass, energy and momentum conservation equations, to simulate the competitive adsorption of the n-components onto a fixed-bed of adsorbent. The model was validated with experimentally measured data of competitive adsorption of binary and eight-component VOCs mixtures onto beaded activated carbon (BAC). The mean relative absolute error (MRAE) was used to compare the modeled and measured breakthrough profiles as well as the amounts of adsorbates adsorbed. For the binary and eight-component mixtures, the MRAE of the breakthrough profiles was 13 and 12%, respectively, whereas, the MRAE of the adsorbed amounts was 1 and 2%, respectively. These data show that the model provides accurate prediction of competitive adsorption of multicomponent VOCs mixtures and the competitive adsorption isotherm equation is able to accurately predict equilibrium adsorption of VOCs mixtures.

Experimental, Thermodynamic and Kinetic Studies for the Adsorption of Phenolic Compounds Derived from Oilfield Wastewater by the Corncob Hydrochar

“…The effective treatment of oilfield wastewater plays an important role in oilfield exploration and rational recovery of petroleum. Nowadays biochar-based adsorption technology attracts much attention in the field of wastewater treatment considering its relatively low-cost treatment and the recovery of VOCs in contrast to chemical and biological methods [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]. By adsorbing organic matter and large particles from wastewater, biochar-based adsorbents can achieve preferable removal of aqueous contaminants [6] [7] [8] [9].…”

Activated carbons modified by magnesium oxide as highly efficient sorbents for acetone

“…[4][5][6][7][8] Among them, adsorption is considered as the most economic and effective technique for control over a variety of VOCs, while an appropriate adsorbent is the key to adsorption techniques. 9,10 Up to now, various adsorbents derived from silica, zeolites, metal organic frameworks, metal oxides and activated carbon have been employed to capture VOCs, [11][12][13][14][15][16] and activated carbon is regarded as one of the most promising adsorbents for commercial use owing to its great surface area, excellent thermal/ chemical stability, low cost and outstanding cyclic utilization.…”

Catalytic oxidation of toluene over a porous Co3O4-supported ruthenium catalyst

“…1 2 were not observed. It should be noted that all diffraction peaks of the MOFs-templated samples are apparently broaden in width and weaken in intensity, indicating that the as-prepared materials are composed of abundant nanosized crystallites.…”