Ethanol, acetic acid, and water adsorption from binary and ternary liquid mixtures on high-silica zeolites

Adsorption isotherms were measured for ethanol, acetic acid, and water adsorbed on high-silica ZSM-5 zeolite powder from binary and ternary liquid mixtures at room temperature. Ethanol and water adsorption on two high-silica ZSM-5 zeolites with different aluminum contents and a high-silica beta zeolite were also compared. The amounts adsorbed were measured using a recently developed technique that accurately measures the changes in adsorbent/liquid mixture density and liquid concentration. This technique allows the adsorption of each compound in a liquid mixture to be measured. Adsorption data for binary mixtures were fit with the dual-site extended Langmuir model, and the parameters were used to predict ternary adsorption isotherms for each compound with reasonable accuracy. In ternary mixtures, acetic acid competed with ethanol and water for adsorption sites and reduced ethanol adsorption more than it reduced water adsorption.