Adsorption of naphthalene and pyrene from isooctane solutions on commercial activated carbons

The adsorption of naphthalene and pyrene on two different types of commercial activated carbons was studied by batch and column experiments. Adsorption equilibrium was measured at three different temperatures. Heats of adsorption were estimated from the equilibrium results and compared to other previous reports. From the column experiments, using parameters obtained from the batch experiments and literature correlations, effective surface diffusivities were estimated for naphthalene and pyrene on both adsorbents in different feed concentrations. The corrected diffusivities, using Darken equation, appear to be almost constant for naphthalene (ca. 1.3⋅10⁻⁸ cm²/min), and for pyrene (ca. 2.3⋅10⁻¹⁰ cm²/min), in both activated carbons.