Development of Equations for Differential and Integral Enthalpy Change of Adsorption for Simulation Studies

D. D., D. Nicholson, Chunyan Fan

We present equations to calculate the differential and integral enthalpy changes of adsorption for their use in Monte Carlo simulation. Adsorption of a system of N molecules, subject to an external potential energy, is viewed as one of transferring these molecules from a reference gas phase (state 1) to the adsorption system (state 2) at the same temperature and equilibrium pressure (same chemical potential). The excess amount adsorbed is the difference between N and the hypothetical amount of gas occupying the accessible volume of the system at the same density as the reference gas. The enthalpy change is a state function, which is defined as the difference between the enthalpies of state 2 and state 1, and the isosteric heat is defined as the negative of the derivative of this enthalpy change with respect to the excess amount of adsorption. It is suitable to determine how the system behaves for a differential increment in the excess phase adsorbed under subcritical conditions. For supercritical conditions, use of the integral enthalpy of adsorption per particle is recommended since the isosteric heat becomes infinite at the maximum excess concentration. With these unambiguous definitions we derive equations which are applicable for a general case of adsorption and demonstrate how they can be used in a Monte Carlo simulation. We apply the new equations to argon adsorption at various temperatures on a graphite surface to illustrate the need to use the correct equation to describe isosteric heat of adsorption.