Fractal continuum model for the adsorption-diffusion process

TL;DR

This paper introduces a fractal continuum mathematical model for adsorption-diffusion in porous materials, capturing scale-invariant properties and predicting experimental results to estimate fractal parameters.

Contribution

It presents a novel fractal continuum approach combined with numerical methods to model and analyze adsorption-diffusion in fractal porous media.

Findings

Model accurately predicts adsorption-diffusion experimental data.

Fractal dimensions influence intraparticle mass flux and displacement dynamics.

Method can estimate fractal parameters of porous adsorbents.

Abstract

In this work, we present a mathematical model to describe the adsorption-diffusion process on fractal porous materials. This model is based on the fractal continuum approach and considers the scale-invariant properties of the surface and volume of adsorbent particles, which are well-represented by their fractal dimensions. The method of lines was used to solve the nonlinear fractal model, and the numerical predictions were compared with experimental data to determine the fractal dimensions through an optimization algorithm. The intraparticle mass flux and the mean square displacement dynamics as a function of fractal dimensions were analyzed. The results suggest that they can be potentially used to characterize the intraparticle mass transport processes. The fractal model demonstrated to be able to predict adsorption-diffusion experiments and jointly can be used to estimate fractal parameters of porous adsorbents.