Surface heterogeneity and surface area from linear inverse gas chromatography: Application to glass fibers

A new method of measuring surface heterogeneity of non-porous adsorbents by inverse gas chromatography (IGC) is developed. In contrast with the methods described in the literature which are based on nonlinear chromatography (thermodynamics of adsorption) this method is based on linear chromatography (kinetics of adsorption). The mass balance equation of linear chromatography with axial diffusion term and the Langmuir kinetic equation on an open (non-porous) heterogeneous surface are solved by the method of Laplace transforms. The expressions for four semi-invariants of an elution profile are obtained. These are linear combinations of the moments of the distribution of sites in residence time of adsorbed molecule with coefficients determined from elution profile of non-adsorbing gas. Four semi-invariants of elution profiles of benzene and methane on a column packed with E-glass fiber were determined experimentally at temperatures around 100 °C. The mean, the standard deviation of the normal distribution in adsorption energy as well as the sticking coefficient and pre-exponential factor of the Frenkel equation are determined for benzene on E-glass. A method of the specific surface determination from linear IGC is proposed.