Water and ethanol sorption phenomena on starch

✍ Scribed by Jay Y. Lee; Paul J. Westgate; Michael R. Ladisch

• Publisher: American Institute of Chemical Engineers
• Year: 1991
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 968 KB
• Volume: 37
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0001-1541
• DOI: 10.1002/aic.690370808

✦ Synopsis

The sorption behavior of water and ethanol on starch material has been investigated in relation to the adsorptive separation of water from ethanol. The adsorption isotherms of water-starch, ethanol-starch and water-ethanol-starch were measured using a Cahn electrobalance. Careful examination of the many sorption isotherm models resulted in selection of Sircar's model and the potential theory to best represent the isotherm data of water-starch and ethanol-starch adsorption. Experimental results showed that ethanol as well as water can adsorb on starch. The adsorption rate of ethanol, however, is much slower than that of water. Thissuggests that the selective removal of water from ethanol vapor in a packed-bed adsorber is likely a rate-dependent, not an equilibrium-dependent, process.