Measurement and theoretical analysis of the adsorption of supercritical methane on superactivated carbon

Adsorption/desorption isotherms of supercritical methane on superactivated carbon have been measured in the range of 0-10 MPa and 233-333 K (20 K interval). The reversibility of the physical adsorption process is acknowledged. The heat of adsorption of 16.5 kJ/mol is determined from the isotherms, and a new modeling strategy for isotherms with maximum is presented. The model yields fits to the experimental isotherms with precision of +/-2%, maintaining the constancy of the characteristic energy of adsorption. The exponent of the model equation expresses the pore size distribution feature of the adsorbent. The density of the supercritical adsorbate is evaluated as a parameter of the model. It is shown that the conventional isotherm theory works too at supercritical condition if the limit state of supercritical adsorption is introduced into isotherm modeling.