Transient Analysis of an

Adsorption Wave

Hsing-Cheng Hsi
Professor
Graduate Institute of Environmental Engineering
National Taiwan University
The gas-phase concentration C of the pollutant
(expressed as mass of pollutant per volume of gas) or the
solid-phase concentration X (expressed as mass of
pollutant per mass of adsorbent) is plotted versus
position x along the bed of total depth Db.
Assumption:
The bed is saturated at the trailing edge
of the wave, i.e., the gas and solid phases
are essentially in equilibrium at any
position behind the adsorption zone.
The concentration X varies between 0
and Xsat.
At position 1, the concentration are C0
and Xsat; at position 2, both
concentrations are essentially zero.
Gas velocity:Vg, adsorption zone velocity:
Vad. (both relative to the bed)
Mass Balance in position 1
Mass balance between positions 1 and 2:
the rate of pollutant transferred into the
zone by gas and solid phases must equal
the rate transferred out. (or in other
words, mass transferred into the
adsorption zone should be equal to the
mass decreased in gas interference (both
in position 1).
 Therefore:

(6-6a)

g and ad are the mass flow rates of the

gas phase entering and solid phase leaving,
respectively.
g is the gas phase density, ad is the apparent
bulk density of the granular bed, and A is the
cross-sectional area of the bed. And:

true is the true density of the adsorbent (no

void space) and is the fraction of void in
the adsorbent.
 Another two assumptions could be made:
1. the concentration of air pollutants is generally very dilute; the
mass flow rate of carrier gas essentially equals that of the total
flow.
2. the carrier gas is frequently air with a mass flow rate a and
density a.
So, equation (6-6a) can be written as:

The correlation between inlet concentration C0 and

saturated adsorbent concentration Xsat can be establish
by different equation. At position, C0 = Ce. Freundlich
equation can be used here:

(6-4)
 Combining equations (6-6b) and (6-4):

The velocity of the adsorption wave is

thus determined:

(6-7a)

or

(6-7b)
 Therefore, the velocity of the adsorption
wave is dependent upon the shape of the
equilibrium (as characterized by and ),
the inlet pollutant gas concentration, the
superficial velocity Va of the air or carrier
gas stream, and the apparent density of
the adsorption bed.
Mass transfer in a zone of decrement
concentration (adsorption zone)
To determine the thickness of
an adsorption wave, it is
necessary to develop a relation
ship between C and x in the
adsorption zone. It is done by
examining the transfer of mass
from the gas phase for a
differential thickness dx of the
adsorption zone.
As the gas stream passes
through dx, the pollutant
concentration changes by dC.
 (Increased (Decreased
mass in solid mass in gaseous
phase) phase)

dp can be developed from the general theory of mass

transfer: the mass flow rate is proportional to the
difference in pollutant concentration between the actual
value in the gas phase and the equilibrium value on the
surface of the solid phase.

Equating these two equations, them using equation (6-4)

to eliminate Ce, we find:
 Finally, X in the above expression can be eliminated
by applying equation (6-6a) in a general sense to the
differential zone of interest. In this situation

Solving for X, and replacing Vad with equation (6-7a)

( ), we determine:

The substitution of this result into the expression

above lead to the desired relation between x and C.

Or (6-8)
 Intergating equation (6-8) from x1-x2 (the
positions of tailing and leading edges of
adsorption zone) will yield an expression of the
adsorption zone thickness , which equals to x2-
x1. At x1 the limit on C is C0 and at x2 is zero.
For mathematical convenience, a new symbol
is used for = C/C0; where varies from 1 to 0.
Equation (6-8) can be reformed as:

(6-9)
The quantity is dimensionless.
The value of the integral on the right side of the
equation is undefined for limits of 0 and 1.
However, by taking limits close in value to 0 and
1, the integral is defined.
 Take to be within 1% of the limiting value, that
is, 0.01 and 0.99, equation (6-9) becomes:

(6-10)
The quantity a/Aa can be replaced by the
superficial gas stream velocity, Va, on the basis of
the continuity of flow equation.
If one wishes to consider values within 0.1
percent of the limiting values, then the constant
in equation (6-10) becomes 6.907, and the
constants 0.01 and 0.99 are replaced by 0.001
and 0.999, respectively.
 The general shape of the concentration versus
distance curve is ascertained by integrating
equation (6-8) between the limits of 0.99 and C.
The result is:

(6-11)

From Figure 6.7, = 0.46

 Finally, the time of breakthrough can be computed. If we
assume that the time required to establish the
adsorption zone to its full thickness at the inlet is zero,
then:
(6-12)

This approximation leads to a conservative estimate of

the operating time before breakthrough occurs. Also
note that the value of depends upon an arbitrary
choice of the limits of equation (6-9). For example,
equation (6-10) is based on a C/C0 value of 0.01 at the
leading edge of the wave. Thus breakthrough is defined
in this case as the situation when C reaches 1% of the
inlet concentration. Other percentages might be chosen.
Example 6-2
Regeneration of an adsorption bed
During regeneration the adsorption zone
becomes a desorption zone, and proceeds in
the opposite direction. Nevertheless, the basic
format of the equation for the speed of the
adsorption zone is still valid.
In terms of equation (6-7a), we find that the
speed of the desorption zone Va is given by:
(6-13)

In this relation, the subscript R refers to the

properties and the flow rate of the
regeneration fluid.
 The values of and could be considerably
different during desorption as compared to
adsorption, due either to the use of a different
temperature or a different desorption fluid, or
both.
The value of CR at the exit of the bed during
desorption is generally different from C0 during
adsorption.
However, the equilibrium saturation values of X
are the same for both processes, since the bed
is saturated when desorption begins. Hence, CR
and C0 can be related in the following manner:
 Then
(6-14)
Substitution of this relationship into equation
(6-13) leads to

(6-15)
If the thickness of the desorption zone is much
smaller than the bed length Db, then the time
for regeneration can be approximated by

(6-16)
 Example 6-3