Adsorption of C1-C7 normal alkanes on BAX activated carbon.: 1.: Potential theory correlation and adsorbent characterization

Single-component adsorption equilibria of the n-alkane series C-1-C-7 On Westvaco BAX-1100 activated carbon were measured over very broad ranges of temperature and pressure, spanning 293-393 K and 0.06-4964 Torr, depending on the n-alkane. The 4278 data points were correlated successfully with potential theory and collapsed essentially into one characteristic curve. A useful functional form of the characteristic curve was also obtained. A new potential theory approach, based on a multisegment Gaussian distribution, qualitatively predicted both the pore size distribution and the total pore volume of the BAX-1100 activated carbon from the adsorption equilibria of the C-3-C-7 n-alkanes, with errors in the total pore volume ranging between 1 and 5%. This extensive data set should prove to be very useful for testing adsorbent characterization schemes, evaluating adsorption isotherm models, estimating adsorption thermodynamic properties of these systems, and modeling adsorption processes concerning hydrocarbon separations and purification, in general.