The adsorption of argon, krypton, and xenon on activated charcoal

Charcoal adsorption beds are commonly used to remove radioactive noble gases from contaminated gas streams. The design of such beds requires the adsorption coefficient for the noble gas. Here an extension of the Dubinin-Radushkevich theory of adsorption is developed to correlate the effects of temperature, pressure, concentration, and carrier gas on the adsorption coefficients of krypton, xenon, and argon on activated carbon. This model is validated with previously published adsorption measurements. It accurately predicts the equilibrium adsorption coefficient at any temperature and pressure if the potential energies of adsorption, the micropore volume, and the van der Waals constants of the gases are known.