Theoretical prediction of breakthrough curves for molecular sieve adsorption columns — II general isothermal solution for micropore diffusion control

✍ Scribed by D.R. Garg; D.M. Ruthven

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1973
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 535 KB
• Volume: 28
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0009-2509
• DOI: 10.1016/0009-2509(77)80014-6

✦ Synopsis

Theoretical breakthrough curves for saturation and regeneration of a molecular sieve adsorption column are calculated from the solution of the appropriate diffusion equation for the case of micropore diffusion control. It is shown that with increasing non-linearity of the isotherm desorption becomes much slower than adsorption so that the regeneration cycle will generally be the limiting factor in column design. By comparing the breakthrough curves for saturation with the appropriate asymptotic solutions the conditions for validity of the 'constant pattern' approximation are obtained. Although restricted to lean gas mixtures containing only a single adsorbable component the analysis provides useful insight into column performance which should be of value in process design.