Acetic acid adsorption in activated carbon for adsorption teaching

Abstract

Adsorption is a phenomenon in which the enrichment of a substance occurs at an interface, and at least one phase must be condensed. It is a spontaneous process that occurs due to imbalance of forces on the surface. It has wide application in the industry, such as purification of liquids, gases and even in the field of medicine. This work presents a simple adsorption experiment of acetic acid in activated carbon, suitable for teaching concepts involved in mass transfer classes. Data were adjusted to the Langmuir isotherm and important topics from the process and model were discussed.