Adsorption performance of packed bed column for benzylformic acid removal using CaO2 nanoparticles

Abstract

Abstract A packed bed column for the recovery of benzylformic acid from the dilute aqueous stream was operated using CaO2 nanoparticles adsorbent. CaO2 nanoparticles were synthesized and characterized by XRD and HR-FESEM. HR-FESEM confirmed that the average size of 32 nm for CaO2. The adsorption breakthrough curve was determined by varying the operating parameters: initial benzylformic acid concentration (9.53–13.47 mg/mL), flow rate (2.5–3.5 mL/min), and bed height (10–20 cm). The bed depth service time (BDST) model at 40%, 50%, and 90% breakthrough provided a good fit to experimental data. Five mathematical models; Thomas, Yoon–Nelson, Clark, Bohart–Adams, Wolborska model was applied to the experimental data using linear regression and the optimum parameters of the column were determined. Analysis of the regression coefficients indicated that the regressed lines provided excellent fits to the experimental data with R2 values ranging from 0.947–0.996 using Thomas model. The experimental and predicted breakthrough time (tb) value of Thomas is in close agreement than Yoon–Nelson, Clark, Bohart–Adams and Wolborska models. The Thomas has been found more appropriate for α-toluic acid removal in a packed bed column. The results are useful for the design of packed column for adsorption, which can be further extended to other systems.