Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, Vol.36, No.6, 2380-2389, 1997
Coadsorption of Organic-Compounds and Water-Vapor on Bpl Activated Carbon .3. Ethane, Propane, and Mixing Rules
Experimental data are reported for adsorption of ethane and propane and their mixtures with water on BPL activated carbon. Pure alkane isotherms were measured at 273, 298, and 323 K from the Henry’s law region to approximately atmospheric pressure. Mixture data, including hysteresis measurements, were obtained at 298 K by fixing the water partial pressure (or relative humidity). Alkane adsorption is significantly affected by water, with loading reductions of up to 60% at a relative humidity of 50%. Our results show that alkanes do not adsorb independently of water, and greater loading reductions can be expected at higher relative humidities. Also, from our data we deduce that approximately 6% of the adsorbent surface strongly adsorbs water, probably on oxide sites. Pure alkane isotherms are analyzed in terms of a lattice model, and a simple empirical method is proposed for calculating mixture equilibria from pure-component isotherms. The method is applied to our data as well as to data for other organic-water mixtures adsorbed on BPL carbon. Results are compared with predictions of previously published methods.