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Because of the persuvasive nature of environmental problems, the overlap and interrelationship between the chemical and environmental disciplines have become unavoidable. Further, many have agreed that environmenal engineering involves the application of chemical engineering fundamentals and principles to the environment. Against this backdrop, CEP is launching a series of solved, numerical illustrative examples derived from the Handbook of Chemical and Engineering Calculations (John Wiley & Sons. Inc. © Copyright 2005) that address the calculations common to both chemical and environmental engineering fields. These problems and solution techniques lend themselves to direct application by practicing engineers, provide the understanding needed for implementing a solution, and appeal to those with limited technical background or extensive industrial experience.
The first topic to be addressed is the design of industrial adsorber systems and the calculation of other relevant information. During adsorption, gas molecules are removed from an airstream because they adhere to the surface of a solid. Eventually, the adsorbent bed becomes saturated with the pollutant and must be disposed of and/or replaced. Alternatively, the pollutant gases/vapors can be desorbed before the bed can be reused.
Example 1. Provide a design procedure for a fixed-bed adsorber.
Solution: A rather simplified procedure developed by the author will be illustrated for an adsorption system consisting of two horizontal units (one on/one off) that remove an organic component from air and are regenerated with steam.
Step 1. Select adsorbent type and size. The most common industrial adsorbents are activated carbon, activated alumina, silica gel and molecular sieves. The first three are amorphous materials with a nonuniform internal...