Chemical Engineering & Technology, Vol.17, No.2, 119-126, 1994
MODELING OF COADSORPTION OF DIFFERENT-SIZED MOLECULES BY USING METHODS OF STATISTICAL THERMODYNAMICS
Using methods of statistical thermodynamics, adsorption isotherms for the description of multicomponent chemisorption of different-sized molecular species are derived by assuming the adsorbing surface to be energetically homogeneous and by neglecting lateral interactions between the adsorbed particles. In the first part of this contribution, the adsorption equilibria for a mixture of different-sized chain molecules adsorbed on a lattice of coordination number z are discussed supposing each unit of a given chain to bind to one adsorption site only. In the second part, the coadsorption of molecular species consisting of a different number of segments on a continuous surface is treated. A comparison of the predicted to the measured isotherms for the coadsorption of two freon species on activated carbon shows that the proposed equations describe the results of the coadsorption measurements sufficiently well, provided the adsorption data for the pure components have been determined experimentally.