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Activated carbon adsorption and desorption of toluene in the aqueous phase
Author(s) -
Chatzopoulos Dimitrios,
Varma Arvind,
Irvine Robert L.
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
aiche journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.958
H-Index - 167
eISSN - 1547-5905
pISSN - 0001-1541
DOI - 10.1002/aic.690391213
Subject(s) - desorption , adsorption , toluene , activated carbon , chemistry , aqueous solution , mass transfer , diffusion , solvent , surface diffusion , mass transfer coefficient , phase (matter) , carbon fibers , aqueous two phase system , chemical engineering , chromatography , analytical chemistry (journal) , thermodynamics , organic chemistry , materials science , composite number , engineering , composite material , physics
The equilibrium and dynamics of toluene adsorption and desorption in singlecomponent aqueous solutions were investigated. Adsorption rates in a batch reactor under a variety of operating conditions were fitted successfully with the homogeneous surface diffusion model and a surface diffusion coefficient that increases exponentially with surface concentration. The dependence of the external mass‐transfer coefficient on the hydrodynamic conditions in the liquid phase was taken into account. Desorption studies in the aqueous phase and solvent regeneration of tolueneloaded activated carbon suggest that only a small fraction of toluene adsorbs irreversibly. Moreover, irreversible adsorption occurs only on virgin activated carbon, while adsorption on solvent‐regenerated activated carbon is fully reversible. After accounting for irreversible adsorption, the model successfully predicted toluene desorption rates in the aqueous phase under various operating conditions using toluene transport parameters determined from the adsorption studies.