A complete experimental approach for synthesis gas separation studies using static gravimetric and column breakthrough experiments

In this work a combination of static gravimetric and inverse chromatographic techniques is used to study the adsorption and separation of the main synthesis gas components, i.e. CO₂, CO, CH₄ and H₂. The single component adsorption isotherms of CO₂, CO, CH₄ and H₂ on faujasite NaX were measured from 303 K to 473 K and over a large range of pressures (from 0 to 1200 kPa). Breakthrough curves of CO₂ and CO and their mixtures were determined at 323 K and 373 K and 100 kPa as an illustrative example. A nice agreement was noticed between the two above-mentioned techniques for single component adsorption. Binary mixture dynamics measurements were compared to the predictions of ideal adsorption solution theory (IAST) via the previously cited single component adsorption data.