This theoretical study shows that a liquid phase can be developed in and passed through a fixed-bed adsorber during thermal regeneration. The liquid results from passing hot gas from the inlet end of the bed, where the adsorbate is desorbed, towards the cool outlet end, where condensation of the solute occurs. The stage model of an adsorption bed is applied to two examples, the regeneration of an activated carbon bed with adsorbed benzene using hot nitrogen and the regeneration of a 4A molecular sieve bed with adsorbed water using hot methane.
DAVID K. FRIDAY andM. DOUGLAS LEVAN
Department of Chemical EngineeringUniversity of Virginia Charloitesville, VA 22901 SCOPE Displacement of adsorbed compounds from a fixed-bed adsorber often results from the passage of a hot gas into the column. This process, called thermal regeneration, finds wide application in solvent recovery, dehydration, and liquid treating operations. Following the heating step, the bed is cooled and is then ready for reuse.This work considers theoretically the thermal regeneration of an adiabatic adsorption column with the development of a liquid phase in the bed. The objectives of this paper are, first, to show that the liquid condensate phase can be formed during thermal regeneration and, second, to present a simple yet versatile model that can be used to predict regeneration behavior for various systems and operating conditions. Thorough treatment will lead to improved methods for the design of adsorption systems and to a better fundamental understanding of coupled heat and mass transfer in adsorptive media.The phenomenon of solute condensation has not been investigated previously although a basis for it has been described by Basmadjian et al. (1975). In their study of thermal regeneration of 5A molecular sieve with adsorbed carbon dioxide using nitrogen, a plateau of readsorbed carbon dioxide was predicted for which the adsorbed-phase concentration exceeded the initial loading. Basmadjian et al. referred to this phenomenon as roll-up.Several methods are available that can be applied to this problem. Many recent theoretical analyses of adiabatic processes in fixed-bed adsorbers have been based on the method of characteristics 1965;Rhee et al., 1970;Pan and Basmadjian, 1971;Banks, 1972;Basmadjian et al., 1975 Ikeda, 1979), the packed bed is modeled as a number of stages, plates, mixing cells, or tanks in series. Our model is obtained by discretizing in the axial direction the partial differential equations for conservation of mass and energy in a fixed bed to obtain ordinary differential equations for each stage. As in the method of characteristics approach, the effects of heat and mass transfer resistances are neglected. Since the model used here is based on finite differences, as the number of stages is increased the results for concentration and temperature profiles in the bed approach those given by the method of characteristics.Two systems are examined: the passage of hot nitrogen into a fixed bed of activated carbon with adsorbed benzene, a...