Adsorption isotherms of ethanol vapour on activated carbon and silica gel

• Main Author: Soo, Siew Hui.
• Other Authors: School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2013
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/54123
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

According to some international organisations, some of our world’s resources might run out within our lifetime. Dwindling natural resources, together with negative environmental impact have become the world’s primary concern. Hence, there is constant demand and search for new sustainable resources to ensure that enough resources are retained for our future generations’ usage. With the increased demand for environmentally friendly and energy efficient technology, many scientists are researching and developing reliable, pollution-free and low energy cost refrigeration alternatives to vapour-compression chillers. For this project, the adsorption of ethanol with different adsorbents is investigated at isothermal conditions. The adsorbents are silica gel and activated carbon. The adsorbate used is ethanol vapour. A constant volume variable pressure (CVVP) apparatus was utilised for this experiment. Volume calibration was conducted to ensure the accuracy of the apparatus before the experiments began. The isotherms used for the experiments are 303K, 313K, 323K, 328K and 333K. Amount of ethanol adsorbed on the adsorbents are calculated using the ideal gas equation. The experimental results obtained are then compared and validated with existing adsorption isotherms. The experimental results conclude that maximum adsorption occurs at low temperature and high pressure. Activated carbon has a higher adsorbate uptake than silica gel. Additionally, Tóth isotherm fits the experimental data better than Langmuir isotherm due to a smaller RMSE.