GAC Column Loading: Oper. Conds Tab

Variable Definitions, Ranges and Default Values

The following table shows a brief description of the variables appearing in this tab. The table also displays their default values and their generally acceptable range:

Variable	Default Value	Range

○ Binding % The amount of adsorbate for each component, expressed as percentage of the component’s mass in the feed stream.	0.0	0-100
◙ Breakthrough Time (h) The actual duration of the loading operation (per cycle).	200.0	Positive
◙ Binding Capacity (mg/g of Adsorbent) The maximum weight fraction of adsorbate in a bed.	5.0	Positive
◙ Service Volume The volume of material that can be fed to the column until breakthrough is reached, expressed as number of bed volumes.	400.0	Positive
◙ Empty Bed Contact Time (min) The amount of time it takes for a feed volume of material to flow through an empty bed.	6.0	Positive
● Cycles Per Week The number of procedure cycles per week.	0.0	Positive

Symbol Key: ○ User-specified value (always input); ● Calculated value (always output); ◙ Sometimes input, sometimes output

Specification Choices / Comments

The following list describes the available specification choices in this tab; for more details on how these are implemented, see GAC Column Loading: Modeling Calculations.

•Breakthrough Time...

If the equipment is in design mode, the breakthrough time can be either set by user or calculated. To calculate the breakthrough time, the user may choose to set either the binding capacity or the service volume. In either case, the user must also set the empty bed contact time, and the bed sizing will be done based on that.

If the equipment is in rating mode, then the user must specify the breakthrough time and the binding capacity. The service volume and empty bed contact time will be calculated by the program.

•Bed Sizing Options...

The bed sizing options are available in equipment design mode only. If the breakthrough time is set by user, it is possible to calculate the bed size based either on the specified binding capacity or on the specified empty bed contact time. If the breakthrough time is calculated, then the binding capacity is calculated based on the specified empty bed contact time.

•Binding Capacity...

The binding capacity of the adsorbent refers to all components that have nonzero binding %.