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 adsorbing onto Ajar activated carbon were studied with a batch adsorber FT-IR technique. Pure-component single and binary systems of ethane-propane, ethane-n-butane and propane-n-butane and ternary systems of ethane, propane and n-butane were studied. System temperatures were at 10, 30 and 60 degrees C. Effects of competition and temperature were examined 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 be accurate in predicting multicomponent dynamics in a differential adsorption bed (DAB) system, in which the external concentration was maintained constant throughout the course of adsorption. Qualitatively the data were in general agreement with expectation, although some anomalies were apparent. Data quality decreased with increasing temperature due to errors in IR signal resolution. For single-component systems, agreement with the model was good for ethane, fair for propane and poor for n-butane. Agreement between the model and binary or ternary systems was generally poor. A pore mouth resistance mechanism, inadequate description of multicomponent equilibria or surface heterogeneity may be responsible for the observed discrepancies.