Evaluating isotherm models for the prediction of flue gas adsorption equilibrium and dynamics

We evaluated isotherm models for the precise prediction of adsorption equilibrium and breakthrough dynamics. Adsorption experiments were performed using pure N₂, CO₂ and their binary mixture with an activated carbon (AC) material as an adsorbent. Both BET and breakthrough measurements were conducted at various conditions of temperature and pressure. The corresponding uptake amount of pure component adsorption was experimentally determined, and parameters of the four different isotherm models, Langmuir, Langmuir-Freundlich, Sips, and Toth, were calculated from the experimental data. The predictive capability of each isotherm model was also evaluated with the binary experimental results of binary N₂/CO₂ mixtures, by means of sum of square errors (SSE). As a result, the Toth model was the most precise isotherm model in describing CO₂ adsorption equilibrium on the AC. Based on the breakthrough experimental result from the binary mixture adsorption, non-isothermal modeling for the adsorption bed was performed. The breakthrough results with all of the isotherm models were examined by rigorous dynamic simulations, and the Toth model was also the most accurate model for describing the dynamics.