Design Aspects of Fixed Bed Adsorption Processes

• Type: Chapter or Part of a Book
• Date: 1989

Authors

Alírio Rodrigues (Author) FEUP; Carlos Costa (Author) FEUP; José Loureiro (Author) FEUP; A. Leitão (Author) Other; R. Ferreira (Author) Other

Book

Title: Adsorption: Science and Technology

Pages: 239-256

Other information

Abstract (EN): The development of new adsorbents is pushing adsorption processes to the forefront of important applications in the chemical industry and related areas (biotechonology, environmental engineering). However, adsorption is only slightly covered in current undergraduate chemical engineering curricula. In 1951 only Mantell’s book on adsorption was available (1). At the same time a “School” on fixed-bed sorption processes started at Berkeley under the direction of T.Vermeulen and G.Klein (2) and F.Helfferich with Shell Co at that time (3). At Nancy, where I finished my research work in 1973 under the direction of D.Tondeur (a former student of Vermeulen and Klein), a philosophy of approaching different operations (adsorption, ion exchange, chromatography, sedimentation, traffic flow) with common mathematical tools was progressing. As a consequence of this philosophy I undertook the task of organizing a NATO ASI on “Percolation Processes: Theory and Applications” (1978). Here I mean by percolation process any process in which a fluid flows through a fixed-bed of some support (particles, fibers) exchanging heat/mass and/or reacting with it. The term “percolation” can have a different meaning in physics but in any case the idea was to put together a theoretical framework for the analysis of fixed-bed separation processes. The book, produced after a long delay by the publisher, was probably in advance for its time (4). It was only in 1984 that Ruthven (5) published his book “Fundamentals of Adsorption and Adsorption Processes” followed by those written by Yang (6) and Wankat (7). My initial idea of organizing a conference on Percolation Processes Was to complement it later with advanced courses on specific fixed-bed processes.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

No. of pages: 18