Analysis of Competition between Multicomponent BTX Compounds for the Active Site of Adsorption in a Fixed-Bed Column

An experimental and numerical study of the individual and competitive adsorption of BTX compounds (benzene, toluene, and o-xylene) in aqueous solution was carried out in a fixed-bed column filled with activated carbon. The equations of transport were discretized using the finite volumes method and an algorithm was implemented in the Fortran programming language. The results obtained in all cases showed that o-xylene is the contaminant which is most competitive for the active site of the adsorbent, and over time it is able to desorb the compounds which have a lower affinity and adsorb to the free active sites. The result is that the local concentration of the weakly adsorbed component in the fluid phase is higher and surpasses the dimensionless concentration. This finding appeared to be related to the Biot number. As the Biot number increased the rate of competitive adsorption decreased, and the form of the breakthrough curves is flat with a lower breakpoint. This is due to the low intraparticle resistance and also the reduced contact time required to reach saturation.