Abstract :
Vapor adsorption on porous materials for non-wetting adsorbent–adsorbate pairs, characterized by a Type 5 isotherm, results in low loading at low relative pressure and increased loading due to capillary condensation behavior at higher relative pressure. The relationship between capillary condensation and the Kelvin equation suggests that a simple expression can be developed in which the adsorption equilibrium is obtained from an integrated pore size distribution function. This new expression is shown to describe the Type 5 isotherms of water adsorption on activated carbon. In addition, this expression has useful properties including: (1) finite saturation limit, (2) readily calculated Henry’s constant, and (3) readily calculated heat of adsorption, (4) can be written explicitly in terms of partial pressure or adsorbed phase loading and (5) parameter values attributable to the distribution function.
