Fixed-bed adsorbers

Adsorption Dynamics. An outline of approaches that have been taken to model mass-transfer rates in adsorbents has been given (see Adsorption). Detailed reviews of the extensive Hterature on the interrelated topics of modeling of mass-transfer rate processes in fixed-bed adsorbers, bed concentration profiles, and breakthrough curves include references 16 and 26. The related simple design concepts of WES, WUB, and LUB for constant-pattern adsorption are discussed later. 

Flow Sheet. Most purge-swing appHcations use two fixed-bed adsorbers to provide a continuous flow of feed and product (Fig. 16). Single beds are used when the flow to be treated is intermittent or cycHc. Because the purge flow is invariably greater than that of adsorption, purge is carried out in the down-flow direction to prevent bed lifting, and adsorption is up-flow. 

Equation (16-124) is a commonly used form of material balance for a fixed-bed adsorber. 

Continuous Countercurrent Systems Most adsorption systems use fixed-bed adsorbers. However, if the fluid to be separated and that used for desorption can be countercurrently contacted by a moving bed of the adsorbent, there are significant efficiencies to be realized. Because the adsorbent leaves the adsorption section essentially in equilibrium with the feed composition, the inefficiency of the... 

Although the continuous-countercurrent type of operation has found limited application in the removal of gaseous pollutants from process streams (Tor example, the removal of carbon dioxide and sulfur compounds such as hydrogen sulfide and carbonyl sulfide), by far the most common type of operation presently in use is the fixed-bed adsorber. The relatively high cost of continuously transporting solid particles as required in steady-state operations makes fixed-bed adsorption an attractive, economical alternative. If intermittent or batch operation is practical, a simple one-bed system, cycling alternately between the adsorption and regeneration phases, 1 suffice. 

The resulting adsorption behavior in an unsteady-state fixed bed adsorber is illustrated in Fig. 7 [32], As the gas stream enters the carbon bed, which is initially free of adsorbate, the adsorbate is rapidly adsorbed, and the gas is essentially free of adsorbate as it continues through the carbon bed. As the adsorbent at the inlet... 

Fig. 7. Movement of adsorption zone through fixed bed adsorber. Reprinted from [32], copyright 1986 Gulf Publishing Company, with permission...

Conical fixed-bed adsorbers are used when a low pressure drop through the cone-shaped bed is less than one half of that through a conventional flat-bed adsorber, while the air volume is more than double that through the flat bed. 

In the pulse bed shown in Figure 32, the liquid enters the bottom cone and leaves through the top cone. The flow of liquid is stopped periodically, spent carbon is withdrawn (pulsed) from the bottom, and virgin or reactivated carbon is added into the top of the adsorber. In a fixed-bed adsorber (illustrated in Figure 33), the liquid... 

Fixed-bed adsorbers may be operated in either intermittent or semicon-tinuous mode. A typical removal system is a semicontinuously operated dnal-bed system one bed is in adsorption mode while the other is being re generated (Fig. 13.23). " The adsorption performance of the bed can he monitored by analyzing the outlet gas. Once organic vapors are detected in the gas stream, the incoming gas stream is routed to the parallel adsorber, and the exhausted bed is regenerated. The adsorption and desorption cycles can also be fixed. 

The technologies used in the control of gaseous organic compound emissions include destruction methods such as thermal and catalytic incineration and biological gas treatment and recovery methods such as adsorption, absorption, condensation, and membrane separation. The most common control methods are incineration, adsorption, and condensation, as they deal with a wide variety of emissions of organic compounds. The most common types of control equipment are thermal and fixed-bed catalytic incinerators with recuperative heat recovery, fixed-bed adsorbers, and surface condensers. The control efficiencies normally range between 90% and 99%. 

Fixed-bed adsorption may give a higher adsoiption area per unit volume than any other type of adsorber. The point of saturation of the bed is called the breakthrough point. By knowing this point one can determine operation schedules. In designing fixed-bed adsorbers, the... 

The primary disadvantage of fixed-bed adsorbers arises when contaminant rates are high. Because of the unsteady-state nature of the operation, a large portion of the in-process adsorbent inventory is saturated and, therefore, inactive. 

The design of fixed-bed ion exchangers shares a common theory with fixed-bed adsorbers, which are discussed in Chapter 17. In addition, Thomas(14) has developed a theory of fixed-bed ion exchange based on equation 18.21. It assumed that diffusional resistances are negligible. Though this is now known to be unlikely, the general form of the solutions proposed by Thomas may be used for film- and pellet-diffusion control. 

Rimmer, P. G. and Bowen, J. H. Trans. Inst. Chem. Eng. 50 (1972) 168. The design of fixed bed adsorbers using the quadratic driving force equation. 

Hashimoto et al. (1977) studied the removal of DBS from an aqueous solution in a carbon fixed-bed adsorber at 30 °C. The dimensions of the bed were D = 20 mm and Z = 25.1 cm. Carbon particles of 0.0322-cm radius were used, with 0.82 g/cm3 particle density, and 0.39 g/cm3 bulk density. The concentration of the influent stream was 99.2 rng/L and the superficial velocity was 0.0239 cm/s. The fixed bed was operated under upflow condition. Furthermore, the isotherm of the DBS-carbon system at 30 °C was found to be of Freundlich type with Fr = 0.113 and = 178 (mg/g)(L/mg)0113. Finally, the average solid-phase diffusion coefficient was found to be 2.1 X 10 10 cm2/s. The approximate value of 10 9 m2/s could be used for DBS liquid-phase diffusion coefficient. 

Murillo et al. (2004) studied the adsorption of phenanthrene (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon -PAH) from helium as carrier gas on a coke fixed-bed adsorber, at 150 °C. The isotherm of the phenanthrene-coke system at 150 °C was found to be of Freundlich type with Fr = 0.161 and KF = 1.9 (mol/kg)(m3/mol)0161. The isotherm has been derived for phenanthrene concentrations between 1.71 X 10 4 and 1.35 X 10-2 mol/m3. Finally, the average solid-phase diffusion coefficient, calculated from several experimental runs, was found to be 6.77 X 10-8 cm2/s. 

As can be understood from Figure 11.5, the amount of adsorbate lost in the effluent and the extent of the adsorption capacity of the fixed bed utilized at the break point depend on the shape of the breakthrough curve and on the selected break point. In most cases, the time required from the start of feeding to the break point is a sufficient index of the performance of a fixed-bed adsorber. A simplified method to predict the break time is discussed in the following section. 

An adsorbate A is adsorbed in a fixed-bed adsorber that is of 25 cm height and packed with active charcoal particles of 0.6 mm diameter. The concentration of A in a feed solution is 1.1 mol m , and the feed is supplied to the adsorber at an interstitial velocity of 1.6 m h L The adsorption equilibrium of A is given by the following Freundlich-type isotherm. 

In the downstream processing of bioprocesses, fixed-bed adsorbers are used extensively both for the recovery of a target and for the removal of contaminants. Moreover, their performance can be estimated from the breakthrough curve, as stated in Chapter 11. The break time tg is given by Equation 11.13, and the extent of the adsorption capacity of the fixed bed utilized at the break point and loss of adsorbate can be calculated from the break time and the adsorption equilibrium. Affinity chromatography, as weii as some ion-exchange chromatography, are operated as specific adsorption and desorption steps, and the overall performance is affected by the column capacity available at the break point and the total operation time. 

If the processes just described are assumed to characterize the transfer of mass and energy in a fixed-bed adsorber, the conservation principles may be applied to them to describe the temperature and concentration as a function of time and position. Presenting the equations for a fixed-bed geometry has the advantage of including also equations, as special cases, for transient adsorption in single particles or groups of particles in batch systems. 

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