Ethylene Adsorption on Activated Carbon Paper Liner: A Model Kinetic Study

Abstract

The ability of activated carbon as an adsorber is depended on activating agent used for the activation process. An industrial application of the ethylene adsorption process as well as the design of the necessary equipment requires an accurate model to determine the effect of various factors on the efficiency of the process. The model is needed to predict the efficient activating agent to be applied in carbon activation. One ml of gas containing 200 ppm ethylene was injected into gas-tight jars, to which 4 sheets of nanopore activated carbon paper were placed. The ethylene concentration was measured every 5 minutes until 90 minutes using gas chromatography. The concentration of ethylene absorbed by the nanopore activated carbon paper, then calculated to construct a kinetics model of absorption. Data were analyzed using 4 kinetics models: nonlinear pseudo-first-order, nonlinear pseudo-second-order, Elovich, and Avrami kinetic models. The best adsorption kinetics model that described ethylene adsorption kinetics by nanopore activated carbon paper was the nonlinear pseudo-first-order, with equation model: qt = 1.35734 (1-exp0.15312 t). The compiled model has a match with R2 = 0.9981. The adsorption mechanisms and kinetics aspects was important on the use of adsorbents to remove ethylene in packaging and storage.