ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the modeling of countercurrent adsorption separation processes where a binary separation is performed by countercurrently flowing a fluid phase and a solid phase. Separation units which are actually moving in the direction opposite to the fluid phase have been reported, such as in the case of the rotating circular chromatography. The most natural criterion for optimal separation is to require minima specific requirements of both solid and desorbent with respect to the amount of feed mixture. The performance similarity between the countercurrent unit and the corresponding simulated moving-bed unit, with close reproduction of the section lengths, has been demonstrated in the case of vapor-phase separation by G. Storti et al. Attractive separation performance can be obtained even in the case of units with very low degree of discretization of the sections, despite the poor simulation of the solid movement.
