Sorption theories applied to wood.

A number of sorption theories are discussed in relation to the wood-water system. The theories are tested in terms of how well they can be made to predict moisture content through curve fitting and how well they can predict heats of adsorption. Theories discussed are the BET (Brunauer, Emmett, Teller), Hailwood and Horrobin, King, and Peirce. Even though the theories can be fitted very closely to experimental sorption data, they do not do well in predicting heat of adsorption. They do, however, all suggest the same general form of adsorption: part of the water is intimately associated with cellulose molecules and part is distinctly less intimately associated.