Separation processes based upon the scientific principles of adsorption are becoming increasingly important in the chemical industry. On the other hand, current treatment of the thermodynamic fundamentals and process principles of adsorption is inadequate or non-existent in many core chemical engineering undergraduate curricula and textbooks. The specific aims of this project are to introduce these topics into our core undergraduate courses, and to establish associated laboratories. Such introduction is particularly facilitated by our core curricular structure, wherein one full course considers the fundamentals of phase equilibria and another the principles of separation processes. Each of these classes has a laboratory course integrated with it, which the students take during the same semester they register for the lecture classes. A volumetric adsorption apparatus and a pressure swing adsorption apparatus (PSA) will be constructed to be included in these laboratories. No major pieces of equipment are requested. The nature of the experiments requires that the apparatuses by constructed rather than purchased. The students will be exposed to several new concepts peculiar to this subject, which must be learnt for the successful industrial practice of adsorption related phenomena.
