ADSORPTION

• Adsorption is typically used for removing a

wide range of compounds from industrial
wastewater, especially implemented for the
removal of various micropollutants, non
degradable organic compounds and a few
metals from wastewater or source waters.
• Adsorption is a mass transfer process which
involves the accumulation of pollutant at the
solid surfaces thereby leaving the water
phase.
TYPES OF ADSORPTION
 PHYSICAL / PHYSISORPTION
• Weak bonding
• Exothermic ( of the order of 0.1 Kcal/ mole)
• Reversible
• Adsorption in which the forces involved are
intermolecular (i.e.,hydrogen bonding) of the
same kind as those responsible for the non-
ideality of real gases and the condensation of
vapours etc. , and which do not involve a
significant change in the electronic orbital
patterns of the species involved is called
physisorption
• An exothermic reaction is a chemical reaction
that releases energy through light or heat. It is
the opposite of an endothermic reaction.
•  Endothermic - a process or reaction that
absorbs energy in the form of heat.
 CHEMICAL / CHEMISORPTION
• Chemical bonding by reaction
• Exothermic ( of the order of 10 Kcal / mole)
• May be irreversible
• A chemical process in which a reacting
molecule forms a definite chemical bond with
an unsaturated atom, or a group of atoms (an
active centre) on a catalyst surface, and
electron transfer is involved is known as
chemisorption
• Unsaturated compounds generally carry out
typical addition reactions that are not possible
with saturated compounds such as alkanes.
• A saturated organic compound has only single
or bonds between carbon atoms.
• Adsorbent is a process by which some liquid
or gas gets accumulated on the surface of a
solid material.
ADSORBENTS USED FOR WASTEWATER

• Activated carbon is by far the most commonly

used adsorbent and is particularly suited to
the removal of refractory organics.
 OTHER ADSORBENTS
NATURAL OR SYNTHETIC ZEOLITES
(Alumina Silicate polymers)
Have a very homogenous pore distribution
and polar bonding sites.
Zeolites are a lot more selective than
activated carbon
 NATURAL CLAY MINERALS
Used for the adsorption of very polar organic
and inorganic matter or ions
 SILICA GEL AND ACTIVATED ALUMINIUM
It is used for the adsorption of various
elements like, arsenic or those kind of thing
are adsorbed onto the activated alumina
 CARBON BASED ADSORBENTS
• 1. ACTIVATED CARBON
• 2.CARBON NANOTUBE
• 3. GRAPHENES
ACTIVATED CARBON
CARBON NANOTUBE
GRAPHENES
 PARTICLE SIZE
• 1.POWDERED ACTIVATED CARBON (1 micro
meter -150 micro meter )
• 2. GRANULAR ACTIVATED CARBON (0.5 mm -4
mm )
• 3. EXTRUDED ACTIVATED CARBON (0.8 mm -4
mm )
 ACTIVATED CARBON
• A typical carbon particle has numerous pores
that provide a large surface area for water
treatment.
• Activated carbon is prepared to exhibit a high
degree of porosity and an extended surface
area.
• Contaminants adhere to the surface of these
carbon granules or become trapped in the small
pores of the activated carbon.
• Activated carbon filters are efficient to remove
certain organics, metals, chlorine, fluorine or radon
and other micro pollutants from water. However it
is not effective for microbial contaminants, some of
the metals, nitrates and inorganic contaminants are
not removed through this adsorption process.
• The water will come from the top, will be
distributed from these headers, it will pass
through these layers and then, will be
collected the bottom and then, will drain from
there
 EFFICIENCY
• Activated carbon adsorption can be
implemented for removing the following
paramters
• BTEX (80-99.9%)
• PAH (98-99.8%)
• AOX (> 90%)
• Phenols (60-90%)
• Alcohols, COD.
 ADSORPTION ISOTHERMS
• Adsorption is usually described through
adsorption isotherms that is the amount of
adsorbate on the adsorbent as a function of
its pressure (if gas) or concentration (if liquid)
at constant temperature.
DIFFERENT ADSORPTION ISOTHERMS
 LANGMUIR ADSORPTION ISOTHERM

• The simplest equation for adsorption under

dynamic equilibrium condition was derived by
Irving Langmuir in 1916.
• He got the Nobel Prize in 1932 in chemistry for
his contributions to surface chemistry.
• It can be used to predict monolayer
physisorption as well as chemisorption.
 ASSUMPTIONS
• The surface is like a checkerboard and made
up of many active (adsorbing) sites.
• Each active site can adsorb only one molecule
of the adsorbate.
• There cannot be multilayer adsorption.
• All surface sites have constant heat of
adsorption (there is no difference between
any two active sites)
• Adsorbed molecules don’t interact with each
other on the surface. (there is no motion of
adsorbed molecules on the surface)
• The surface containing the active sites is
perfectly like a flat plane with no corrugations.
SURFACE ADSORBENT
• Desorption is a phenomenon whereby a
substance is released from or through a
surface. The process is the opposite of
sorption
• Empty bed contact time (EBCT) A measure of
the time during which a water to be treated is
in contact with the treatment medium in
a contact vessel, assuming that all liquid
passes through the vessel at the same velocity.
• EBCT is equal to the volume of the empty
bed divided by the flow rate
• MGAC- Mass of GAC
• Co- Initial concentration
• Ce- Final concentration
• Kf- Freundle capacity factor ( mg Adsorbate/ g
Activated carbon)( L Water / mg adsorbate)1/n
• 1/n – Freundlich intensity parameter
TYPICAL DESIGN VALUE
FREUNDLICH ADSORPTION ISOTHERM
CONSSTANT
 MASS OF GAC IN THE BED

• Mass of GAC in the Bed= EBCT X FLOW X

DENSITY OF GAC
 Volume of Water treated

• Volume of Water treated= Mass of GAC for

given EBCT/ GAC usage rate
 Bed life
• Bed life = Volume of water treated for given
EBCT/ Flow