Adsorption process design operating loading

While the effect of concentration is qualitatively evident, it is essential for purposes of engineering design and operation of adsorption processes that rather precise prediction of concentration or load effect be possible. Previous findings relative to the concentration dependence of... 

Tertiary carbon systems have, in general, performed more successfully than IPCT systems in municipal waste treatment applications. This is due in part to the increased adsorptive loading required of IPCT systems over tertiary units in which the carbon beds are merely polishing filters. Both tertiary and IPCT applications have been beset by design and/or operational difficulties, the majority of which have been mechanical in nature rather than failures in process performance. However, these problems have tended to be more severe in IPCT cases in terms of system impact as well as in fact. In IPCT plants, the carbon system is more central to overall treatment than in tertiary units, hence system failures in the former applications make achievement of discharge permits virtually impossible. 

Figures 5(a) and 5(b) show the simulated breakthrough curves of both total protein and HSV-1 respectively. It should be noticed that the dimensionless time scales in these two figures differ by four orders of magnitude. The breakpoint of HSV-1 is the operating endpoint at which the effluent from the adsorption column can no longer meet the desired sterilization criterion. Since the HSV-1 has a much higher affinity to the bead surface, the breakpoint of HSV-1 appears much later than that of the total protein. To optimize the protein recovery, one should improve the design of the bead surface (better selectivity, higher loading capacity), size, and operating parameters of the filter to further delay the breakpoint of the virus elution. A stochastic approach to model the removal process may be more appropriate in low concentrations of viruses.

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