Modeling and Simulation of Tetrahydrofuran Recovery by Zeolite 4A in a Fixed Bed: Effect of Operating Conditions and Adsorption Scale-up

This paper deals with the modeling and simulation of tetrahydrofuran (THF) dehydration by zeolite molecular sieve 4A in a fixed bed. The model equations account for the effect of axial dispersion and the inter- and intraparticle mass-transfer resistances at isothermal operating conditions. Orthogonal collocation and Gill’s fourth-order Runge-Kutta methods were used to solve the dimensionless general forms of the 2Ncoupled ordinary differential equations for adsorption of the water by the adsorbent in a fixed bed. The model predictions were compared to the laboratory–scale data reported elsewhere [1], and good agreements were obtained. Moreover, the effects of operating and design parameters on the breakthrough curves and times for an industrial-scale adsorption column were investigated by pore diffusion model.