Charcoal Adsorption Equilibria for Light Hydrocarbons

Abstract

DSORPTION on activated charcoal has been used by the petroleum industry for a number of years in field and laboratory tests for heavier hydrocarbon content of natural gases, Also of importance is the separation of light hydrocarbon mixtures on a commercial scale by adsorption on charcoal. The development of these processes depends on equilibrium adsorption data for the mixtures involved. Few such data appear in the literature. The purpose of the present investigation was t o provide additional equilibrium data and to determine whether characteristics of a charcoal could be established which would a t a given temperature and pressure permit prediction of vaporadsorbate equilibria for light hydrocarbon mixtures of varying composition.A similar investigation by Lewis and others (W,3) is reported in the literature. These authors used both thermodynamic and adsorption potential methods in an effort to correlate equilibrium data on pure components with data on mixtures. The adsorption potential method was the more successful but was found generally unsatisfactory for mixtures in which the molecular weights of the constituents differed appreciably. Inadequate data prevented further development of their correlations.