Dehydration of ethanol via adsorption using molecular sieves has recently been suggested as a promising alternative to the conventional separation methods for ethanol-water mixtures. 3A zeolites possess selective micropores whereon, due to the small size of their pores, the water molecules are adsorbed while the ethanol molecules are excluded. The scope of this work was, hence, the thermodynamic and kinetic study of ethanol-water adsorption on commercial zeolites of different origins, with the aim to select the best one. For the thermodynamic study, a thermostated bath was used at four different temperatures, where the data obtained by the static method could be correlated by means of a nonlinear isotherm. The kinetic data were obtained in a circulating finite liquid bath cell, where the effect of the temperature and of the mean diameter of the adsorbent particles on the rate of adsorption was studied. The results obtained in this way, expressed through uptake rate curves, showed that the adsorption rates were strongly dependent on the parameters studied. On comparing the adsorption rates among the adsorbents (commercial 3A zeolites), it could be concluded that, under the same operational conditions, exists a pronounced difference among them
Ethanol; molecular sieves; adsorption
