Effect of pressure on adsorption. The extent of adsorption of a gas per unit mass of adsorbent (x / m) increases with increase of pressure at a constant temperature.
(i) For a lower range of pressure (x / m) is directly proportional to the applied pressure. Larger the pressure more is the amount of gas adsorbed, lower the pressure small is the amount of a gas adsorbed. That is
(as a constant temperature)
(ii) For a high pressure range the extent of adsorption of a gas per unit mass of the adsorbent (x / m) is independent of the applied pressure. That is
(iii) For a moderate pressure range the value of x/m is proportional to a Fractional power of pressure. That is
(where T is constant)
where 1 / n is a fraction. Its value may be between 0 and 1. Fig. (a) and (b) show the variations of the extent of adsorption of a gas on an adsorbent as predicted by Frundlich equations (i) and (ii) respectively.
...(i)
and ...(ii)
Effect of temperature on adsorption: The amount of a gas adsorbed per unit mass of a solid surface (x / m) decreases with increase of temperature in case of physical adsorption. However, in case of chemical adsorption as the temperature increases x / m increases, attains a maximum value then decreases.