A Review of mathematical models for breakthrough times of active carbon used in air conditioning

Abstract Fixed-bed adsorbers which have pellets or particles with high porosity are used for adsorptive gas separation procedures. To manage and anticipate the separation results, mathematical models are used to understand the dynamics of adsorbers. The Wheeler-Jonas (WJ) equation is the most often utilized of the various models for carbon filtering that are currently known. A full set time and bed position is produced by the model as a function of flow velocity, concentration, and temperature. For this carbon material, a model is created to predict the breakthrough time, carbon bed life span, and adsorption capacity. Adsorption behavior under various operating settings was investigated by examining the reaction constant, adsorption constant, and degradation constant. The breakthrough curve for a gas with a single sorbate is obtained by solving the equilibrium isotherm and the mass and heat balance equations for the bed and sorbent particle. Each model differs from the others in terms of the kind of adsorption isotherm, whether a chemical reaction is included or excluded, whether mass transfer resistance is substantial or insignificant, the kinetics of chemical reactions, and the kind of rate law that is applied if non-equilibrium is assumed. Each model’s governing equations and solution are shown and described. The tasks at hand are finding a model among the current models for carbon filtration breakthrough times and evaluating its ability to forecast penetration times of various organic and inorganic compounds. The study will demonstrate that the WJ equation can be applied to carbon filters of different sizes and applies to most chemical agents of relevance for military application.