During this time period, we performed experiments to examine the effects of solvent composition on the diffusion controlled uptake of quinoline into alumina catalyst pellets. Of particular interest was the effect of solvent aromaticity on the diffusive uptake process. The uptake experiments were performed at a temperature of 300 C for the adsorptive diffusion of quinoline in a solvent mixture of mineral oil and 1-methyl naphthalene onto alumina catalyst pellets. These experiments were conducted in a 40 cm{sup 3} microautoclave, the use of which is more economical from both a purchasing and waste disposal standpoint due to the small quantities of solvents and catalysts utilized, and is also significantly safer at the higher temperatures. In order to study the effect of aromaticity of the solvent on the hindered diffusion-adsorption process, the experiments were performed at different volume fractions of 1-methyl naphthalene. Detailed calculations were made to estimate the effects of aromaticity, i. e., as reflected by the percentage of 1-methyl naphthalene in the solvent, on the diffusive properties of the solute. Model simulation results were then performed which showed that the mathematical model incorporating diffusion and adsorption mechanisms satisfactorily fitted the adsorptive diffusion of quinoline onto the alumina catalyst at …

The mathematical model which we have developed previously for diffusion controlled adsorption was extended to allow for the inclusion of the effects of extraparticle film mass transfer resistance as embodied in a finite Sherwood number. A Mathcad based program was used to simulate the experimental data using summation of a large number of terms in the infinite series solution. Parametric studies and accompanying plots revealed that the effects of film resistance on the uptake process were found to increase in significance as the adsorption capacity parameter in the model decreased. In addition, the two carbon catalyst supports prepared in our own laboratory were tested for their diffusional characteristics in uptake experiments using petroleum asphaltenes dissolved in toluene at three temperatures. The resulting experimental data were simulated with the mathematical model developed in the report.