Simulation of a fixed bed adsorber for thiophene removal

Breakthrough adsorption of 2-methyl thiophene on fixed beds of NiY, CeY and CeNiY adsorbents were evaluated at room temperature from a feed containing different concentrations of 2-methyl thiophene in n-hexane. The breakthrough curves were simulated by applying an axial dispersed plug flow model, modified to enable use of Langmuir isotherm parameters, for isothermal adsorption of trace systems. The model is able to predict the breakthrough curves fairly accurately. The model parameters include mass transfer coefficients and axial diffusivities. It is shown that the mass transfer parameters can be estimated independently of the experimental data. This improves the versatility of the model for scale up calculations.