Equilibrium-dispersive model finite difference methods

For the solution of sophisticated mathematical models of adsorption cycles including complex multicomponent equilibrium and rate expressions, two numerical methods are popular. These are finite difference methods and orthogonal collocation. The former vary in the manner in which distance variables are discretized, ranging from simple backward difference stage models (akin to the plate theory of chromatography) to more involved schemes exhibiting little numerical dispersion. Collocation methods are often thought to be faster computationally, but oscillations in the polynomial trial function can be a problem. The choice of best method is often the preference of the user. 

There is an abimdant literature on the comparison between experimental and calculated band profiles for binary mixtures. The most popular methods used have been the forward-backward finite difference scheme and the OCFE method. The former lends itself readily to numerical calculations in many cases representative of the present preoccupations in preparative chromatography. We present first a comparison between the band profiles obtained with the ideal and the equilibrium-dispersive model to illustrate the dispersive influence of the column efficiency. Related to the comparison between these two models is the issue of the use of the hodograph transform of experimental results discussed in Section 11.2.2. Computer experiments are easy to carry out and most instructive because it is possible to show e effects of the change of a single parameter at a time. Some... 

Numerical solutions of the former [50,51] and latter [52] models have been calculated with finite difference methods. Any of the schemes discussed in Chapter 10 can be used for the calculation of solutions of these kinetic models. However, the generation of the error due to the numerical dispersion is more complex and it is more difficult to control, because two differential equations are now involved for each component, instead of one with the equilibrium-dispersive model. 

In the frequency response method, first applied to the study of zeolitic diffusion by Yasuda [29] and further developed by Rees and coworkers [2,30-33], the volume of a system containing a widely dispersed sample of adsorbent, under a known pressure of sorbate, is subjected to a periodic (usually sinusoidal) perturbation. If there is no mass transfer or if mass transfer is infinitely rapid so that gas-solid mass-transfer equilibrium is always maintained, the pressure in the system should follow the volume perturbation with no phase difference. The effect of a finite resistance to mass transfer is to cause a phase shift so that the pressure response lags behind the volume perturbation. Measuring the in-phase and out-of-phase responses over a range of frequencies yields the characteristic frequency response spectrum, which may be matched to the spectrum derived from the theoretical model in order to determine the time constant of the mass-transfer process. As with other methods the response may be influenced by heat-transfer resistance, so to obtain reliable results, it is essential to carry out sufficient experimental checks to eliminate such effects or to allow for them in the theoretical model. The form of the frequency response spectrum depends on the nature of the dominant mass-transfer resistance and can therefore be helpful in distinguishing between diffusion-controlled and surface-resistance-controlled processes. 

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