High Pressure Excess Isotherms for Adsorption of Oxygen and Nitrogen in Zeolites

Abstract

High-pressure oxygen is an integral part of fuel cell systems, many NASA in situ resource utilization concepts, and life support systems for extravehicular activity. Due to the limited information available for system designs over wide ranges of temperature and pressure, volumetric methods are applied to measure adsorption isotherms of O(2) and N(2) on NaX and NaY zeolites covering temperatures from 105 to 448 K and pressures up to 150 bar. Experimental data measured using two apparatuses with distinctly different designs show good agreement for overlapping temperatures. Excess adsorption isotherms are modeled using a traditional isotherm model for absolute adsorption with a correction for the gas capacity of the adsorption space. Comparing two models with temperature-dependent coefficients, a virial isotherm model provides a better description than a Toth isotherm model, even with the same number of parameters. With more virial coefficients, such as a cubic form in loading and quadratic form in reciprocal temperature, the virial model can describe all data accurately over wide ranges of temperature and pressure.