Thermodynamic verification of the theory of volume filling of micropores for adsorption on activated carbons

The thermodynamic verification of the potential theory of adsorption for the adsorption of methanol, ethanol, carbon dichloride and carbon tetrachloride on polyfurfuryl microporous carbons is presented. Using the results of adsorption isotherm measurements at different temperatures, the condition for temperature independence of a so-called 'characteristic' curve was checked. It is shown that this assumption is not fulfilled for four out of eight of the cases investigated. For the systems that obey this postulate, the typical minimalization procedure for the numerical calculation of the potential theory parameters (using DR, DA and DI models), usually used by other authors, was applied. Finally the adsorption enthalpy values predicted by the potential theory of adsorption equations were calculated and compared with those measured calorimetrically.