Experimental Investigation and Modeling of Adsorption of Water and Ethanol on Cornmeal in an Ethanol‐Water Binary Vapor System

Abstract

Abstract The adsorption capacity of water and ethanol on cornmeal in an ethanol‐water binary vapor system was investigated in a fixed‐bed apparatus for ethanol dehydration. Experiments were performed at temperatures of 82–100 °C for different relative humidities of ethanol‐water vapor. Adsorption equilibrium models, including those based on the adsorption potential theory of Polanyi and Sircar's model, have been used to fit the experimental data for water adsorption on cornmeal, and all gave good fits. For ethanol adsorption, pseudo‐equilibrium was defined as the mass adsorbed on the cornmeal within the time needed for the equilibrium for water on the same adsorbent. Based on this limiting condition, adsorption behaviors and mechanisms were analyzed.