Removal of SO2 over Modified ActivatedCarbon in Fixed Bed Reactor: II.Effect ofProcess Variables on the Characteristics of Mass Transfer Zone

Abstract

Adsorption of sulfur dioxide (SO2) onto NiO supported activated carbon (Ni/AC)in fixed bed reactor under different operating conditions was studied. Using 7Ni/AC catalyst, the effect of two process variables: namely gas flow rate(80 ≤ Q ≤ 290l/h equivalent to superficial gas velocity 263 ≤ Vg ≤ 955 cm/min) and bed height(4 ≤ H ≤ 8)cm on the desulfurization activity and the characteristics of mass transfer zone(MTZ) were investigated. Breakthrough curves for SO2 under various adsorption conditions were obtained and some characteristic parameters such as breakthrough time (τ0.05), exhaustion time(τ0.95)and length of mass transfer zone (LMTZ) were derived from these breakthrough curves. The experimental results revealed that on increasing gas rate for all bed heights two regions are developed. Keywords: SO2 Removal, Ni Supported Activated Carbon, Fixed Bed Reactor, Breakthrough curves, Mass Transfer Zone