Competitive and synergistic adsorption of binary volatile organic compound mixtures on activated carbon*

The adsorption of four substances and their binary mixture is investigated via the terahertz time domain spectroscopy (THz-TDS). The selected unary compound (ethanol, acetone, ethyl acetate, and n-propyl acetate) and binary mixture (solution 1 is composed of ethanol and acetone, and solution 2 is composed of ethyl acetate and n-propyl acetate) exhibit different adsorption behaviors with varied polarities. In comparison with single component, solution 1 shows shorter adsorption equilibrium time, faster adsorption rate, and stronger adsorption capacity, which conform to a synergistic adsorption mechanism, while the competitive behavior is attributed to the slower adsorption in solution 2. In addition, the pseudo-second-order equation with terahertz parameter is used to assess the rate of binary component organics. The present results indicate a further understanding of multicomponent adsorption mechanisms.