Vol.29 No.4(6) [2007]

Linear Driving Force Approximation for Gasoline Vapors Recovery using Activated Carbons

Ibrahim Ibrahim El-SHARKAWY, Bidyut Baran SAHA, Anutosh CHAKRABORTY, Shigeru KOYAMA, Jingming HE and Kim Choon NG

[ABSTRACT ]

This study deals with the experimental investigation of adsorption equilibrium and kinetics of gasoline vapors onto one specimen of activated carbon powder namely Maxsorb III and another specimen of activated carbon fiber felt which is known as ACF-1500. The experiments have been conducted at assorted adsorbent temperatures between 20 to 60ºC by using a thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA) unit under a controlled environment of pressure and temperature. Vapor uptake, adsorption temperatures and pressures are logged continuously. The Dubinin- Radushkevich (D-R) equation is found to be suitable to correlate the adsorption isotherms whilst the linear driving force (LDF) model is used to represent the adsorption kinetics. Experimental results show that although the Maxsorb III/gasoline pair has more than twice the uptake of ACF-1500/gasoline pair at equilibrium condition, but the latter has about 10-fold improvement in the overall heat transfer coefficient (ksav).