Dynamic Measurement of Copper (II) Ion Adsorption in Activated Carbon Fixed Bed Columns

Dynamic experiments were carried out on the adsorption of copper (II) ions in a laboratory packed bed of activated carbon. Both pulse and step change inputs were used. Measurements were reproducible and replicate measurements furnished nearly identical parameters for a heterogeneous model of the activated carbon bed assuming Langmuir adsorption isotherm. The initial concentration of copper (II) ion was 3 ppm and the average particle size of activated carbon was 1.5 mm. The adsorption experiments in the shallow beds of activated carbon, 3 and 5 cm bed height had little effect on the parameters. Hydraulic loading, 25 and 50 ml min^-1, affected dispersion and the volumetric mass transfer coefficient, but unexpectedly also changed the effective diffusivity. This apparently comes from the incorporation of errors due to instrumental noise and model approximations in the parameters. A 5 min pulse input has a low residual sum of square (RSS) with all of set of starting point while a 10 min pulse has a low RSS using some set of starting point. A step up input has a high RSS that may arise from a large number of data. These affected the Langmuir adsorption isotherm constant and diffusivity as expected from their concentration dependency. Step change and pulse simulations using the model agreed well with the experiments.