Adsorption isotherm potential theories

Many simple systems that could be expected to form ideal Hquid mixtures are reasonably predicted by extending pure-species adsorption equiUbrium data to a multicomponent equation. The potential theory has been extended to binary mixtures of several hydrocarbons on activated carbon by assuming an ideal mixture (99) and to hydrocarbons on activated carbon and carbon molecular sieves, and to O2 and N2 on 5A and lOX zeoHtes (100). Mixture isotherms predicted by lAST agree with experimental data for methane + ethane and for ethylene + CO2 on activated carbon, and for CO + O2 and for propane + propylene on siUca gel (36). A statistical thermodynamic model has been successfully appHed to equiUbrium isotherms of several nonpolar species on 5A zeoHte, to predict multicomponent sorption equiUbria from the Henry constants for the pure components (26). A set of equations that incorporate surface heterogeneity into the lAST model provides a means for predicting multicomponent equiUbria, but the agreement is only good up to 50% surface saturation (9). 

Finally, let us discuss the adsorption isotherms. The chemical potential is more difficult to evaluate adequately from integral equations than the structural properties. It appears, however, that the ROZ-PY theory reflects trends observed in simulation perfectly well. The results for the adsorption isotherms for a hard sphere fluid in permeable multiple membranes, following from the ROZ-PY theory and simulations for a matrix at p = 0.6, are shown in Fig. 4. The agreement between the theoretical results and compu-... 

The three isotherms discussed, BET, (H-J based on Gibbs equation) and Polanyi s potential theory involve fundamentally different approaches to the problem. All have been developed for gas-solid systems and none is satisfactory in all cases. Many workers have attempted to improve these and have succeeded for particular systems. Adsorption from gas mixtures may often be represented by a modified form of the single adsorbate equation. The Langmuir equation, for example, has been applied to a mixture of n" components 11). 

As noted above, the range of pressures over which gas adsorption studies are conducted extends from zero to the normal vapor pressure of the adsorbed species p0. An adsorbed layer on a small particle may readily be seen as a potential nucleation center for phase separation at p0. Thus at the upper limit of the pressure range, adsorption and liquefaction appear to converge. At very low pressures it is plausible to restrict the adsorbed molecules to a mono-layer. At the upper limit, however, the imminence of liquefaction suggests that the adsorbed molecules may be more than one layer thick. There is a good deal of evidence supporting the idea that multilayer adsorption is a very common form of physical adsorption on nonporous solids. In this section we are primarily concerned with an adsorption isotherm derived by Brunauer, Emmett, and Teller in 1938 the theory and final equation are invariably known by the initials of the authors BET. 

The differences observed in the adsorption isotherm are also qualitatively and quantitatively significant for the entropy. It has been recently shown that the isotherm of adsorption of an ideal adsorbate on a heterogeneous surface can be appreciably improved by taking into account the exact form of S from Eq. (7) instead of the approximate one arising from F-H theory [22], Results for the coverage dependence of the chemical potential (adsorption isotherm) and entropy per site are shown in figs. 1-2 for various fc-mer s sizes and interaction energies [attractive (w<0) as well as repulsive (w>0)]. 

While the linear adsorption isotherms of Figure 4 are illustrative only, they are not inconsistent with reality. The simplest theory of the electrical double layer, the Gouy-Chapman approximation, predicts that if the pH is not far from the isoelectric point, the charge represented by counter ions in the diffuse double layer is related to the surface potential as follows (4, 52, 86) ... 

Which theory is suitable for a certain application The adsorption theory of Henry is applicable at low pressure. This, however, is natural since it can be viewed as the first term in a series of the adsorption function. A widely used adsorption isotherm equation is the BET equation. It usually fits experimental results for 0.05 < P/P0 < 0.35. For very small pressures the fit is not perfect due to the heterogeneity. For higher pressures the potential theory is more suitable at least for flat, homogeneous adsorbents. It often applies to P/Po values from 0.1 to 0.8. Practically for P/Po > 0.35 adsorption is often dominated by the porosity of the material. A more detailed description of adsorption is obtained by computer simulations [382],... 

As expected, the total interaction energies depend strongly on the van der Waals radii (of both sorbate and sorbent atoms) and the surface densities. This is true for both HK type models (Saito and Foley, 1991 Cheng and Yang, 1994) and more detailed statistical thermodynamics (or molecular simulation) approaches (such as Monte Carlo and density functional theory). Knowing the interaction potential, molecular simulation techniques enable the calculation of adsorption isotherms (see, for example, Razmus and Hall, (1991) and Cracknell etal. (1995)). 

The Dubinin adsorption isotherm equation is a good tool for the measurement of the micropore volume. This isotherm can be deduced with the help of Dubinin s theory of volume filling, and Polanyi s adsorption potential [11,26], The Dubinin adsorption isotherm equation has the following form [11]... 

However, Kazakevich and co-workers demonstrated the importance of the adsorption of chaotropic ions onto the reversed stationary phase [106]. The rank of an ion in the Hofmeister series is another measure of its tendency to accumulate at the stationary phase in RP-HPLC and be quantified via its adsorption isotherm [88]. Clearly a specific surface excess of the chaotropic reagent results in the development of a potential difference between the stationary phase and the bulk eluent, modulating retention of analytes [107]. We discussed in Chapter 3 the way a comprehensive theory can take this experimental evidence into account. 

Fractal geometry has been used to describe the structure of porous solid and adsorption on heterogeneous solid surface [6-8]. The surface fractal dimension D was calculated from their nitrogen isotherms using both the fractal isotherm equations derived from the FHH theory. The Frenkel-Halsey-Hill (FHH) adsorption isotherm applies the Polanyi adsorption potential theory and is expressed as ... 

Single-component adsorption equilibria on activated carbon of the n-alkanes Q-C4 and of the odorant tert-butyl mercaptan were measured at the operating conditions expected in a large-scale facility for adsorbed natural gas (ANG) storage. The experimental data were correlated successfully with the Adsorption Potential theory and collapsed into a single temperature-independent characteristic curve. The obtained isotherm model should prove to be very useful for predicting the adsorption capacity of an ANG storage tank and to size and optimize the operation of a carbon-based filter for ANG applications. 

The main purpose of the present work is twofold (i) to report an extensive set of singlecomponent adsorption isotherm data of the more common natural gas components on activated carbon, and (ii) to present a means of extrapolating the measured data to higher alkanes in order to be able to span the whole composition of a typical natural gas. There is experimental evidence that for the n-alkanes series this can be done using the Adsorption Potential theory, as demonstrated recently by Holland et al. on Westvaco BAX-1100 carbon, and assumed previously by us. - ... 

The basis for thermodynamic calculations is the adsorption isotherm, which gives the amount of gas adsorbed in the nanopores as a function of the external pressure. Adsorption isotherms are measured experimentally or calculated from theory using molecular simulations. Potential functions are used to constmct a detailed molecular model for atom-atom interactions and a distribution of point charges is used to reproduce the polarity of the solid material and the adsorbing molecules. Recently, ab initio quantum chemistry has been applied to the theoretical determination of these potentials, as discussed in another chapter of this book. 

The thermodynamic description of the adsorption isotherm of a supercritical gas was shown in the above subsection. The thermodynamic approach cannot explain a more physical meaning of Wl. The molecular potential theory treats the interaction between an admolecule and the pore surface as a function of the distance, as mentioned before. If we use the model of the two parallel semi-infinite slabs of graphite as the micropore walls of activated carbon, the additive form gr(z) of the 9-3 potentials from both graphite slabs is obtained [43] ... 

The interaction energy is determined by potentials as defined in Eq. (4). Bond-bending energy terms within the hydrocarbons are also included. The parameters of the interaction potential with zeoUte have to be determined by a fit of experiment with theory. June et al. [66] and Smit and Maesen [67] used slightly different parameters (see Table I). The latter used parameters fitted on experimental adsorption isotherms of hexane in silicalite. Whereas in siliceous materials the dominant interaction term is given by the... 

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