Mohsen Abbasi

Single and multiple columns breakthrough curves were investigated in this study numerically. The adsorption kinetic in a fixed-bed column was modeled by the Linear Driving Force (LDF) approach. Also, the adsorption isotherm was assumed to follow the Freundlich model. The equations were discretized by the increment differential quadrature method (IDQM). The governing equations were solved in a set of Newton-Raphson iterative method. The breakthrough curves of all columns in operation were plotted. The results showed multiple columns had better performance in the separation of impurities in comparison to a single column. By increasing the number of columns, the removal yield was increased and breakthrough time was decreased. Furthermore, in multiple column, the adsorption capacity usage increased in comparison to a single column. The effective system according to economy and separation was multiple columns with three beds in series and the removal yield was determined more than 0.99 while the removal yield for the single column was 0.52.