SARVAJANIK COLLEGE OF

ENGINEERING &
TECHNOLOGY

CHEMICAL ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT

SUBJECT : MASS TRANSFER OPERATION - Ⅱ (ALA)
TOPIC : ADSORPTION : TYPES, APPLICATIONS, NATURE OF ADSORBENTS
AND DIFFERENT ADSORBENTS USED
ACADEMIC YEAR : 2018-19
SEMESTER : 6

SUBMITTED BY : SUBMITTED TO :
1 PATEL ARMIN (160420105035) 1 PROF. VAISHALI UMRIGAR
2 PATEL BHAUMIN (160420105036) 2 PROF. BANSI KANSAGRA
3 PATEL CHINTAN (160420105037)
4 PATEL DHRUVIN (160420105038)
CONTENTS :

SR NO. TOPIC SLIDE NO.

1. INTRODUCTION 3
2. TYPES OF ADSORPTION 5
3. NATURE OF ADSORBENT 9
4. DIFFERENT ADSORBENTS USED 11
5. APPLICATION 18
6. REFERENCES 19

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INTRODUCTION :

• The adsorption operations exploit the ability of certain solids preferentially to concentrate specific
substances from solution onto their surfaces.
• In these operations the mixture to be separated is brought into contact with another insoluble phase,
the adsorbent solid.
• The unequal distribution of the original constituents between the adsorbed phase on the solid
surface and the bulk of the fluid then permits a separation to be made.
• The rigidity and immobility of a bed of solid adsorbent particles make possible useful application
of semi-continuous methods which are not at all practicable when two fluids are contacted.

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• Adsorbate : The substance

which is adsorbed on the
surface.
• Adsorbent : The substance
with an interface where the
adsorption occurs.

Fig 1 : Adsorption Phenomena [ref. 2]

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TYPES OF ADSORPTION :

1. Physical Adsorption or Van der Waals Adsorption :

• It is a readily reversible phenomenon.
• It is the result of intermolecular forces of attraction between molecules of the solid and the
substance adsorbed.
• The intermolecular attractive forces between a solid and a gas are greater than those existing
between molecules of the gas itself, the gas will condense upon the surface of the solid.
• Its pressure may be lower than the vapor pressure corresponding to the prevailing temperature.

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• Such a condensation will be accompanied by an evolution of heat, in amount usually somewhat

larger than the latent heat of vaporization and of the order of the heat of sublimation of the gas.
• Energy liberated is 2-20 KJ/gm mole.
• The equilibrium vapor pressure of a concave liquid surface of very small radius of curvature is
lower than that of a large flat surface, and the extent of adsorption is correspondingly increased.
• By lowering the pressure of the gas phase or by raising the temperature the adsorbed gas is readily
removed or desorbed in unchanged form.
• This process is quite rapid and exothermic.

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2. Chemisorption or activated adsorption :

• It is the result of chemical interaction between the solid and the adsorbed substance.
• The strength of the chemical bond may vary considerably, and identifiable chemical compounds in
the usual sense may not actually form, but the adhesive force is generally much greater than that
found in physical adsorption.
• The heat liberated during Chemisorption is usually large.
• Energy liberated is 20-400 KJ/gm mole.

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• The process is frequently irreversible.

• On desorption the original substance will often found to have undergone a chemical change.
• The same substance which, under conditions of low temperature, will undergo substantially only
physical adsorption upon a solid will sometimes exhibit chemisorption at higher temperatures, and
both phenomena may occur at the same time.

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NATURE OF ADSORBENTS :

• Adsorbent solids are usually used in granular form, varying in size from 50 µm to 12 mm.
• They are used in a fixed bed through which a liquid or gas is to flow, they must not offer too great
a pressure drop for flow nor must they easily be carried away by the flowing stream.
• They must have adequate strength and hardness so as not to be reduced in size during handling.
• If they are to be transported frequently in and out of bins, they should be free-flowing.
• Adsorption of organic materials is increasing with pH is decreasing.

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• Large surface per unit weight seems essential to all useful adsorbents. Particularly in the case of
gas adsorption,
• The pores are usually very small, sometimes of the order of a few molecular diameters in width,
but their large number provides an enormous surface for adsorption.
• There are many other properties evidently of great importance which are not at all understood, and
we must depend largely on empirical observation for recognition of adsorptive ability.

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DIFFERENT ADSORBENTS USED :

1. Fuller's earths :
• These are natural clays.
• They are chiefly magnesium aluminum silicates in the form of the minerals attapulgite and
montmorillonite.
• Commercially available sizes range from coarse granules to fine powders.
• The clays are particularly useful in decolorizing, neutralizing, and drying such petroleum products
as lubricating oils, transformer oils, kerosenes, and gasolines, as well vegetable and animal oils.

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2. Activated clays :
• These are bentonite or other clays which show essentially no adsorptive ability unless activated by
treatment with sulfuric or hydrochloric acid.
• It is particularly useful for decolorizing petroleum products and is ordinarily discarded after a
single application.
3. Bauxite :
• This is a certain form of naturally occurring hydrated alumina which must be activated by heating
to temperatures varying from 230 to 815 °C in order to develop its adsorptive ability.
• It is used for decolorizing petroleum products and for drying gases and can be reactivated by
heating.

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4. Alumina :
• This is a hard, hydrated aluminum oxide which is activated by heating to drive off the moisture.
• It is used chiefly as a desiccant for gases and liquids.
5. Bone char :
• This is obtained by the destructive distillation of crushed, dried bones at temperature in the range
600 to 900 °C.
• It is used chiefly in the refining of sugar.

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6. Decolorizing carbons :
• These are variously made by:
 Mixing vegetable matter with inorganic substances and leaching away the inorganic matter.
 Mixing organic matter such as sawdust.
 Carbonizing wood, sawdust, and the like, followed by activation with hot air or steam.
• They are used the decolorizing of solutions of sugar, industrial chemicals, drug, and dry-cleaning
liquids, water purification, refining of vegetable and animal oils, and in recovery of gold and silver
from cyanide ore-leach solutions.

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7. Gas-adsorbent carbon :
• This is made by carbonization of coconut shells, fruit pits, coal, lignite, and wood.
• It is used for recovery of solvent vapor from gas mixtures, gas masks, collection of gasoline
hydrocarbons from natural gas, and fractionation of hydrocarbon gases.
8. Molecular-screening activated carbon :
• This is a specially made form with pore openings controlled from 5 to 5.5 Å.
• The pores can admit paraffin hydrocarbons.
• It is useful in fractionating acetylene compounds, alcohols, organic acids, ketones, aldehydes, and
many others.

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9. Synthetic polymeric adsorbents :

• These are porous spherical beads, 0.5 mm diameter.
• The material is synthetic, made from polymerizable monomers of two major types.
• Those made from unsaturated aromatics such as styrene and divinylbenzene are useful for
adsorbing nonpolar organics from aqueous solution.
• Those made from acrylic esters are used principally for treating water solutions.
10. Silica gel :
• This is made from the gel precipitated by acid treatment of sodium silicate solution.
• It is used principally for dehydration of air and other gases, in gas masks, and fractionation of
hydrocarbons.

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11. Molecular sieves :

• The “cages” of the crystal cells can entrap adsorbed matter, and the diameter of the passageways,
controlled by the crystal composition, regulates the size of the molecules which can enter.
• The sieves can thus separate according to molecular size, but they also separate by adsorption
according to molecular polarity and degree of unsaturation.
• They are used for dehydration of gases and liquids, separation of gas and liquid hydrocarbon
mixtures, and in a great variety of processes.

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APPLICATIONS :

• To dehumidify air and other gases.

• To remove objectionable odors and impurities from industrial gases such as carbon dioxide.
• To recover valuable solvent vapors from dilute mixtures with air and other gases.
• To fractionate mixtures of hydrocarbon gases containing such substances as methane, ethylene,
ethane, propylene, and propane.
• The removal of moisture dissolved in gasoline.
• Decolorization of petroleum products and Aqueous sugar solutions.
• Removal of objectionable taste and odor from water.
• The fractionation of mixtures of aromatic and paraffinic hydrocarbons.

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REFERENCES :

1. “ Mass Transfer Operations “ , Robert E. Treybal, McGraw Hill Education Pvt. Ltd., Third
Edition, Adsorption and Ion Exchange, Page no. 565-569.
2. www.slideshare.net/reddyas/adsorption.

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