Diffusion in liquid‐filled pores of activated carbon. I. Pore volume diffusion

The adsorption isotherms on activated carbon were measured for the following six systems: benzaldehyde, phenol, and potassium chloride in water; benzene, isopropylbenzene, and phenol in cyclohexane. The systems isopropylbenzene and benzene each in cyclohexane and potassium chloride in water proved to be slightly adsorbing systems, whereas the benzaldehyde and phenol each in water were highly adsorbing systems. The rate of diffusion of the slightly adsorbing solutes was interpreted by assuming that the intraparticle diffusion was due to pore volume diffusion. The results indicated that the tortuosity factor for activated carbon is 3.5. The effective pore volume diffusivity and the tortuosity factor were not affected by the concentration of the solute, solute molecular size and the particle diameter. The external mass transfer resistance was negligible when pore volume diffusion was the controlling intraparticle diffusion mechanism.