Adsorption behaviors of sugars and sulfuric acid on activated porous carbon

To investigate the suitability of activated porous carbon as the adsorbent for separation of sugars and sulfuric acid, the relevant adsorption equilibrium data were obtained by using a staircase frontal analysis method in the range of sulfuric acid concentration (0-13.61 g/L), glucose concentration (0-5.86 g/L), and xylose concentration (0-34.96 g/L). It was found from the resultant adsorption data that sugars had considerably higher adsorption affinities to activated porous carbon than sulfuric acid, which indicates that activated porous carbon has the potential to be utilized as an economical adsorbent for separation of sugars and sulfuric acid. It was also found that the resultant adsorption data could be well predicted by the Langmuir isotherm model.