ADSORPTION

By Serdar ARICAN
Kocaeli University
Chemical Engineering Department

Outline
Definition
Types of Adsorption
Adsorption Kinetics
Adsorption Isotherms

Adsorption
Adsoption is the adhesion of atoms, ions, or molecules from a

gas, liquid, or dissolved solid to a surface.

This process creates a film of adsorbate on the surface of the
adsorbend.
The process is extremely important because for a
heterogeneous catalyst to proceed, there must be adsorption
of the reactants

Types of Adsorption
There are two types of adsorption;

Physical Adsorption (Physorption);

Relatively weak bonds

Mainly Van der Walls bonds

Chemical Adsorption (Chemisorption);

Stronger bonds

Adsorption Isotherms

Adsorption is usually described through isotherms, that is, the

amount of adsorbate on the adsorbent as a function of its
pressure (if gas) or concentration (if liquid) at constant
temperature.
some of these isotherms are:
Freundlich Isotherm
Langmuir Isotherm
BET Isotherm
Henderson-Kisliuk

Freundlich Isotherm
First mathematical fit to an isotherm (1894)
Purely emphrical formula for the gases
The equation;

Langmuir Isotherm
Semi-emphirical model derived from a propsed kinetic

mechanism for gases

Based on four assumptions;

All of the adsorption sites are equivalent and each site can only
accommodate one molecule.

The surface is energetically homogeneous and adsorbed molecules do

not interact.

There are no phase transitions.

At the maximum adsorption, only a monolayer is formed. Adsorption
only occurs on localized sites on the surface, not with other
adsorbates.

For the raction of;

The surface coverage,

, is defined as;

Adsorption Kinetics