Kinetics Modeling of The Column Adsorption for The Dehydration of Ethanol-Water Mixtures using Biomass Adsorbents

Abstract

This study has explored the use of biomass - based adsorbents other than the conventional materials as adsorbent for the dehydration of ethanol - water mixtures. The column study was carried out using enzyme modified corn starch and un- modified corn starch for the adsorptive dehydration of ethanol - water mixtures. The effect of bed heights and flow rates on the breakthrough curves revealed that adsorption efficiency decreased with increased flow rate and increased with bed height. The throughput volume of the anhydrous ethanol - water mixtures increased with increase bed height, due to availability of more sorption sites on the adsorbents. Thomas, Yoon and Nelson, and Adams - Bohart kinetic models were used to describe the packed column study. The column kinetics was best described by Yoon and Nelson and Adams - Bohart models. The presence of the hydroxyl O - H stretch group’s spectroscopy confirmed the chemical affinity of these adsorbents for water in the ethanol - water mixture. The amorphous or crystallinity nature of the adsorbents was investigated using the X - RD analysis. Keywords: