Prediction of the breakthrough curves of VOC isothermal adsorption on hypercrosslinked polymeric adsorbents in a fixed bed

Abstract

A mathematical model, which was based on the Linear Driving Force (LDF) model and Dubinin–Radushkevich (D–R) equation, was proposed to describe the removal of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) through a fixed bed packed with a hypercrosslinked polymeric resin (HPR) under isothermal conditions. The limiting volume adsorbed capacity (q₀) and the adsorption characteristic energy (E) of the D–R equation were correlated well with the properties of the VOCs and HPR using multi-linear regression (MLR). Therefore, no experimental effort was required to predict equilibrium adsorption capacities of VOCs over a wide range of relative pressures. The model was validated for the breakthrough adsorption of hexane, heptane, and butanone on HPR. The experimental and predicted breakthrough time had a deviation within 10%. This result indicates that the model can be used to determine the breakthrough curves and time as long as the known properties of VOCs and HPR were found in advance, without requiring any adsorption experiments.