Column Adsorption, overlooked factor
Design using theory is based on a column packed with adsorbent and operated
from start to exhaustion. Real columns are usually lead-and-trail. A design should
take into consideration that the lead column has reached the breakthrough point and
is delivering that concentration to the trail column to produce a final effluent to meet
specifications. At the start of the analysis there is a discontinuity in the adsorbent from that in the lead
column that has partial loading from contact with the solution to adsorbent
in the trail column that starts out freshly regenerated with little or no loading depending
on how well it was regenerated.