CEV102

Evironmental Chemistry 1
Chapter 3
Chapter 3
Week 5 Basic concepts in physical
chemistry-II
• 3.1. Binary mixtures
• 3.2. Membrane processes: osmosis and
dialysis (basic concepts)
• 3.3. Basic definition about absorption
 ADSORPTION
• Sorption processes are very important to fate
and transport of contaminants in the
environment and for the removal of
contaminants in engineered reactors.
• Sorption: most often defined as the
concentration or movement of contaminants
from one phase into another phase.
Examples
• The dissolution (adsorption) of oxygen gas
into water.
• Absorption of pesticide DDT into organic
solvent hexane.
Adsorption
• Adsorption: is the process by which ions or
molecules prresent in one phase tend to
condense and concentrate on the surface of
another phase.
• EX: adsorption of contaminants present in air
or water onto activated carbon is frequently
used for purification of the air or water.
• The material being concentrated is the
adsorbate, and the adsorbing solid is termed
adsorbent.
General types of adsorption
• Physical adsorption
• Chemical adsorption
• Exchange adsorption
Physical adsorption
• Relatively nonspecific and is due to the operation of
weak forces of attraction or van der Waals’ forces
between molecules.
• Here, the adsorbed molecule is not affixed to a
particular site on the solid surface but is free to move
about over the surface.
• Adsorbed material may condense and form several
superimposed layers on the surface of the adsorbent.
• Generally quite reversible; i.e., with a decrease in
concentration the material is desorbed to the same
extent that it was originally adsorbed.
Chemical adsorption (chemisorption)
• Chemisorption is the result of much stronger forces,
comparable with those leading to formation of chemical
compounds.
• Adsorbed material forms a layer over the surface which
is only one molecule thick, the molecules are not
considered free to move from one surface site to
another.
• When the surface is covered by monomolecular layer,
the capacity of adsorbent is essentially exhausted.
• Seldom reversible, the adsorbent must generally be
heated to higher temperatures to remove adsorbed
materials.
 Exchange adsorption
• Adsorption characterized by electrical attraction between
adsorbate and the surface.
• Ion exchange is included in this class.
• Ions of substance concentrate at the surface of a result of
electrostatic attraction to side of opposite charge on the
surface
• Ions with greater charge, such as trivalent ions, are
attracted more strongly toward a side of opposite charge
than are molecules with lesser charge, such as
monovalent ions
• The smaller size of the ion (hydrated radius), the greater
the attraction.
• Since adsorption is a surface phenomenon, the rate and
extent of adsorption are functions of the surface of the solids
used.

• Activated carbon is used extensively for adsorptive purposes

because of its tremendous surface area in relation to mass.

• Generally made from wood product and coal by heating the

temperatures between 300 to 1000 °C in one of a variety of
possible gaseous atmosphere such as CO 2, air or vapor, and
then quickly quenching in air or water.
• The interior of the wood cells is cleaned out by this
procedure, leaving a structure with remarkably small and
uniform pores.
• Surface areas in the range of 1000 m2 per gram of
activated carbon result, with pore sizes general range of
10 to 1000 angstroms (A°) in diameter.
• At a given temperature and pressure, a sample of
activated carbon will adsorb a definite quantity of gas.
• If the presure is increased, it will adsorb more,
• If the presure is decreased, it will adsorb less,
• If the quantities of adsorbed gas are plotted against
pressure, curves of the sort shown in Fig. 3.12. are
obtained.
• Adsorption of solutes from solution follow the
same general laws as gases. This is shown
in Fig.3.13, which shows data for the
adsorption of acetic and benzoic acids. The
curves are of same nature as those in
previous one (Fig.3.12)
The quantity of
substance adsorbed by a
given sample of
adsorbent depends on

• Nature of material
• Its concentration
• Temperatature
Adsorption isotherms
• An adsorption isotherm is a quantitative
relationship describing the equilibrium
between the concentration of adsorbate in
solution (mass/volume) and its sorbed
concentration (mass adsorbate/mass
adsorbent).
• The term isotherm is used to signify the
relationship is for a given temperature.
Four commonly used isotherms:
• Linear
• Langmuir
• Freundlich
• BET
Which isotherm should be used depends on a variety of factors:

• Situation (engineered reactor versus natural environment)

• Nature
• Concentration
• Number of adsorbates (hydrophobic versus hydrophilic,
organic compound versus metal, neutral versus multiple
contaminants)
• Type of adsorbent (granular activated carbon (GAC) versus
ion exchange resin versus iron oxide minerals versus aquifer
material
• Type of fluid (gas versus water versus organic solvent)
• Other environmental factors (ph, ionic streght)
The Linear isotherm
• Is limited special case of Freundlich
isotherm. It is often used to describe sorption
of organic chemicals in the environment and
will be discussed in more detail in Section
5.34