Adsorptive Drying of Organic Liquids- An Update

Abstract

Removal of small amounts of water from organic liquids is normally handled by adsorption or by azeotropic distillation. The latter method is well documented and analysis or design is straightforward so long as the azeotrope is properly defined. The former method, adsorption, is not well documented or understood even though it is practiced fairly extensively. The purpose of this paper is to review the state-of-the-art on adsorptive drying of liquid organics having limited water solubility and to make appropriate comparisons with the distillation method. A few other drying methods will also be discussed. Included in the presentation will be information on the determination of adsorption isotherms and the modeling of adsorption kinetics. A description of an experimental program at The University of Texas at Austin will also be given.