Chemical and Food Engineering Department

ChE 421 – Separation Process and Introduction to Particle

Technology

Exercise No. ____

ADSORPTION
 ADSORPTION

1. Spherical particles of 15 nm diameter and density 2290 kg/m3 are pressed together to
form a pellet. The following equilibrium data were obtained for the adsorption of
nitrogen at 77 K. Obtain estimates of the surface area of the pellet from the adsorption
isotherm.The density of liquid nitrogen at 77K is 808 kg/m3.

SOLUTION:
2.

SOLUTION:
3. A solvent contaminated with 0.03 kmol/m3 of a fatty acid is to be purified by passing it
through a fixed bed of activated carbon which will adsorb the acid but not the solvent. If
the operation is essentially isothermal and equilibrium is maintained between the liquid
and the solid, calculate the length of a bed of 0.15 m diameter to give 3600 s (1 h) of
operation when the fluid is fed at 1 × 10-4m3/s. The bed is initially free of adsorbate, and
the intergranular voidage is 0.4. Use an equilibrium, fixed-bed theory to obtain an answer
for three types of isotherm:

SOLUTION:
4. A bed is packed with dry silica gel beads of mean diameter 1.72 mm to a density of 671
kg of gel/m3 of bed. The density of a bead is 1266 kg/m3 and the depth of packing is
0.305 m. Humid air containing 0.00267 kg of water/kg of dry air enters the bed at the rate
of 0.129 kg of dry air/ms. The temperature of the air is 300 K and the pressure is 1.024 ×
10^5 N/m2. The bed is assumed to operate isothermally. Use the method of Rosen to find
the effluent concentration as a function of time. Equilibrium data for the silica gel are
given by the curve in Figure 17.22. An appropriate value of kg, the film mass transfer
coefficient, is 0.0833 m/s.

SOLUTION:
5. An adsorption unit is to be designed to dry air using silica gel. A moving-bed design is
considered in which silica gel moves down a cylindrical column in plug flow while air
flows up the column. Air enters the unit at the rate of 0.129 kg of dry air/m2s and with a
humidity of 0.00267 kg water/kg dry air. It leaves essentially bone dry. There is
equilibrium between air and gel at the entrance to and the exit from the adsorption zone.
Experiments were carried out to find the relative resistances of the external gas film and
pellet diffusion. Referred to a driving force expressed as mass ratios then:

SOLUTION:
b.
6. Adsorption on BPL carbon is used to treat an airstream containing 0.2 percent n-hexane
at 20C. a) Estimate the equilibrium capacity for a bed operating at 20C. b) How much
would the capacity decrease if the heat of adsorption raises the bed temperature to 40C?

SOLUTION:

a. Molecular weight n hexane = 86.17 g

At 20 C: P=120 mm Hg
7. The adsorption of n-butanol from air was studied in a small fixed bed (10.16 cm
diameter) with 300 and 600 g carbon, corresponding to bed lengths of 8 and 16 cm. a)
From the following data for effluent concentration, estimate the saturation capacity of the
carbon and the fraction of the bed used at c/co = 0.05. b) Predict the breakpoint time for a
bed length of 32 cm.

Data for n-butanol on Columbia JXC 4/6 carbon are as follows:

SOLUTION:
8. A) use the breakthrough data in Problem 7 to determine N and Kca for the 8 cm bed
assuming irreversible adsorption. B) Compare Kca with the predicted kca for the external
film.

SOLUTION:
9. Adsorption on activated carbon is being considered to treat a process air stream that has
0.12 vol% methyl ethyl ketone (MEK). The gas is at 25 C and 1 atm and the flow is
16000 ft3/min. The pressure drop across the bed should not exceed 12 in H2O. a) If BPL
4x10 mesh carbon is used, predict the saturation capacity and the working capacity if the
average bed temperature is 35C and the regeneration is stopped when W=1/3 Wsat. b)
What gas velocity and bed size could be used to give a reasonable cycle time if the length
of unused bed is 0.5ft? How much carbon is needed?

SOLUTION:

At 20C: P = fs = 151 mm Hg
pl = 0.805 g/cm3
At 79.6 C: pl = 0.75 g/cm3
10. Adsorption Isotherm for Phenol In wastewater. Batch tests were performed in the
laboratory using solutions of phenol in water and particles of granular activated carbon
(R5). The equilibrium data at room temperature are shown in Table 12.1-1. Determine the
isotherms that fits the data.

SOLUTION:

Plotting the data as 1/q vs 1/c, the results are not a straight line and do ot follow the
Langmuir equation. A plot of log q vs log c gives a straight line and hence follow the
Freundlinch isotherm. The slope n is 0.229 and the constant K is 0.199 to give

𝑞 = 0.199𝑐 0.229