EQUILIBRIUM ADSORPTION OF BINARY MIXTURES OF LIGHT HYDROCARBONS IN ACTIVATED CARBON

Several studies have been reported with the purpose of storing NG in porous media by adsorption. Experimental data and mathematical models that describe the adsorption phenomena of pure methane, the main component of NG (about 90%) already exist, however they do not describe satisfactorily the behavior of NG storage cycles, because of the presence of several other hydrocarbons like ethane, propane, butane and heavier alkanes. This study presents measurements of experimental data for the adsorption equilibrium of binary mixtures of low-molecular-weight alkanes and compares them with mathematical models for multicomponent adsorption prediction based on each pure component adsorption data. Experiments were performed with the binaries methane-ethane, methane-propane and methane-butane. Experimental results were compared with predictions from the Extended Langmuir model and Ideal Adsorbed Solution (IAS) model.