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Numerical simulation of toluene adsorption on activated carbon in a technical column in low concentration range
Author(s) -
Bart HansJörg,
Germerdonk Rolf,
Ning Ping
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
chemical engineering and technology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.403
H-Index - 81
eISSN - 1521-4125
pISSN - 0930-7516
DOI - 10.1002/ceat.270190408
Subject(s) - mass transfer , activated carbon , adsorption , toluene , diffusion , volumetric flow rate , carbon fibers , chemistry , range (aeronautics) , nonlinear system , partial differential equation , computer simulation , thermodynamics , mechanics , materials science , chromatography , mathematics , physics , composite material , organic chemistry , mathematical analysis , quantum mechanics , composite number
This paper deals with the modeling of toluene adsorption in a technical column of activated carbon in a low concentration range (2.6 to 3.4·10 −3 kg/m 3 ), which is usual for environmental applications. It is also concerned with methods of numerical solutions of the nonlinear partial differential equations (PDE), a modified control volume method was used to determine the PDE. Three nonequilibrium isotherm models are developed to describe mass transfer in a fixed bed of activated carbon (Degussa WS‐4). The important parts of this paper are the simulation of the maldistribution of concentration and loading of the pollutant in the technical column, as a result of the flow velocity maldistribution and the study of the mass transfer mechanisms in a technical fixed bed. It is found that in a low concentration range, toluene adsorption in a fixed bed of activated carbon (Degussa WS‐4) is an external rate‐controlled process, thus surface diffusion cannot be neglected. The calculated results are in good agreement with the experimental ones. The measured effect of an earlier breakthrough near the wall‐near zone has been calculated using the model.