Modelling large mass removal in adsorption columns

A novel mathematical model is developed to describe column adsorption when the contaminant constitutes a significant amount of the fluid. This requires tracking the variation of pressure and velocity, in addition to the usual advection–diffusion–adsorption and kinetic equations describing concentrat...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Myers, Timothy G., Calvo Schwarzwälder, Marc|||0000-0003-4284-1898, Font Martínez, Francesc|||0000-0003-1215-9791, Valverde Salamanca, Abel|||0000-0002-0179-117X
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2025
País:España
Institución:Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)
Repositorio:UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPC
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:upcommons.upc.edu:2117/459239
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/2117/459239
https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.icheatmasstransfer.2025.108652
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Differential equations, Partial
Contaminant removal
Pollutant removal
Adsorption
Fluid dynamics
Mathematical model
Equacions en derivades parcials
Classificació AMS::35 Partial differential equations::35Q Equations of mathematical physics and other areas of application
Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Matemàtiques i estadística::Equacions diferencials i integrals::Equacions en derivades parcials
Descripción
Sumario:A novel mathematical model is developed to describe column adsorption when the contaminant constitutes a significant amount of the fluid. This requires tracking the variation of pressure and velocity, in addition to the usual advection–diffusion–adsorption and kinetic equations describing concentration and adsorption rates. The model goes beyond previous work, based on a simple linear kinetic equation, to include both physical and chemical adsorption. Using rigorous mathematical techniques we are able to simplify the governing equations to obtain an approximate analytical solution. The advantage of such analytical solutions is that the effect of system parameters on the behaviour is clearly defined and, in this case, only a single unknown needs to be fitted to the data. The simplicity of the solution is advantageous when testing new configurations and optimising operating conditions. Fitting a single unknown from an explicit expression is significantly more efficient than fitting multiple parameters to the base system of equations. The analytical solution shows excellent agreement with breakthrough data for multiple experiments. For the most extreme case of 69% CO our model had a Sum of Squares Error of 0.01 and an R = 0.99, compared to values 4.8, 0.94 for the standard constant velocity model.