Liquid phase adsorption is an important process for the removal of trace compounds from liquid matrices. Until today, research on liquid phase adsorption is less substantial than work on other thermal separation processes. The description of relevant mechanisms and interactions is difficult mainly because of lacking experimental data. This paper presents extensive isotherm measurements for the adsorption of organic trace compounds from organic solvents on activated carbons. A systematic variation of molecular structure of adsorptives and solvents enabled the identification of main structural factors dominating adsorption in these systems. The factors are polarity, extension and density of π electrons and sterical complexity. An analysis of the measured isotherms revealed incremental effects of functional groups and structural elements being characteristic for the adsorption capacities on activated carbons. Three consecutive empirical prediction models of adsorption equilibria are developed and compared. The empirical Freundlich equation appeared to be best suited for fitting the experimental data. The models apply an incremental concept permitting the calculation of adsorption isotherms on the basis of the structural increments of solvent and adsorptive molecules. The three models have a different extent of underlying data, a different number of parameters and a different range of application. The experimental data are predicted with satisfying accuracy for many engineering applications. The most sophisticated model has the most extensive range of application and manages on the smallest number of parameters.
