The separation of propane and propylene is accomplished by distillation, but at the expense of more than 100 trays and a reflux ratio greater than 10. Consequently, the use of adsorption has been investigated in a number of studies. Jarvelin and Fair [Ind. Eng. Chem. Research, 32, 22012207 (1993)] measured adsorption-equilibrium data at 25°C for three different zeolite molecular sieves (ZMSs) and activated carbon. The data were fitted to the Langmuir isotherm with the following results:

where q and q_m are in mmol/g and p is in bar. 

(a) Which component is most strongly adsorbed by each adsorbent? 

(b) Which adsorbent has the greatest capacity? 

(c) Which adsorbent has the greatest selectivity? 

(d) Based on equilibrium considerations, which adsorbent is best?

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Adsorbent ZMS 4A ZMS 5A ZMS 13X Activated carbon Sorbate C3 ی ی ی ی ی ی ی C C C3 C3 C3 9m 0.226 2.092 1.919 2.436 2.130 2.680 4.239 4.889 K 9.770 95.096 100.223 147.260 55.412 100.000 58.458 34.915