Transport of Binary Mixtures of Trace Contaminants Through an Adsorber Bed

We measured the isothermal transmission of two binary mixtures of hydrocarbons through an adsorber bed at 25°C packed with crosslinked polystyrene beads. Transmission is the ratio of the outlet to the inlet concentration. Interference between co-adsorbing gases is manifested by a reduction of the adsorption capacity of each component in the mixture from that obtained in a single-component experiment and by a transmission greater than unity for the weaker-adsorbing component until the stronger-adsorbing component elutes. Binary mixtures of n-butane and propane at 25°C reveal both interference phenomena, whereas binary mixtures of n-butane and 1,3-butadiene at 25°C with concentrations from ~ 1000 to 5000 ppm do not reveal the “overshoot” phenomena.