Measurement and modeling of single- and multi-component adsorption equilibria of VOC on high-silica zeolites

From pure and binary gas adsorption equilibria measurements carried out using a volumetric method for three volatile organic compounds (methyl ethyl ketone, toluene (TOL), and 1,4-dioxane) on two high-silica zeolites, desaluminated faujasite Y (Fau Y) and ZSM-5 (Sil Z), co-adsorption was investigated and modeled. Apart from steric exclusion taking place with TOL-containing mixtures on Sil Z, micropore filling was similar to distillation since the component with the lower volatility adsorbed preferentially. At low coverage, chemisorption on specific sites happened in favor of polar or major compound, whereas at saturation the adsorbent was selective for the minor compound. Second, a quantitative prediction of binary equilibria was performed using the ideal adsorbed solution theory (IAST), examining the influence of pure component adsorption fitting model. The efficiency of correlations when extending AST to real mixture behavior was satisfactory in most cases. For engineering purposes, Fau Y is to be considered as a high-adsorption capacity adsorbent, whose selectivity can be described qualitatively by the distillation analogy and predicted quantitatively with the IAST in case of quasi-ideal mixtures.