ADSORPTION OF ORGANIC SOLUTES INTO ACTIVATED CARBONS-BATCH STUDIES

In this paper, a new model is proposed for the adsorption of organic solutes into solids having a bimodal pore size distribution. This model takes into account, the pore and surface diffusion in the macropore and also the adsorption capacities in both macropore and micropore. The model equations are solved numerically (Crank-Nicholson) and in special cases, the asymptotic solutions for micropore uptake control and macropore uptake control are presented. This model is applied to data obtained by Peel, Benedek and Crowe (1981) and is shown to describe the experimental data well. It has been observed that surface diffusion plays a significant role in the adsorption of phenol on activated carbon.