Longitudinal Dispersion Coefficient Depending on Superficial Velocity of Hydrogen Isotopes Flowing in Column Packed with Zeolite Pellets at 77.4 K

Authors have been developing a cryogenic pressure swing adsorption system for hydrogen isotope separation. In the problem of its design and operation, it is necessary to predict the concentration profiles developing in packed beds of adsorbent pellets. The profiling is affected by the longitudinal dispersion of gas flowing in packed beds, in addition to the mass transfer resistance in porous media of adsorbent pellets. In this work, an equation is derived for estimating the packed-bed dispersion coefficient of hydrogen isotopes, by analyzing the breakthrough curves of trace D₂ or HD replacing H₂ adsorbed in synthetic zeolite particles packed columns at the liquefied nitrogen temperature 77.4 K. Since specialized for hydrogen isotopes, this equation can be expected to estimate the dispersion coefficients more reliable for the cryogenic hydrogen isotope adsorption process, than the existing equations.