Answer Happy

A gas stream is placed into contact with an adsorbent material at temperature T. Sites are available within the material to adsorb up to nmax moles of gas, but the pressure P of the gas stream is such that, at equilibrium, half the adsorption sites in the material are occupied and half of them are empty. Heat (specifically in the form of isosteric heat of adsorption) is released during the adsorption process, although it can be assumed that such heat is conducted to the surroundings sufficiently quickly that any temperature rise is negligible.
(b) Suppose now that the pressure Pin the gas is doubled, which causes the number of moles n of gas adsorbed to increase, thereby leading to additional heat release. Determine this additional heat of adsorption released, and comment on the significance of this answer in respect of additional heat release for yet further increases in pressure. [6 marks] (c) Is there an upper limit on the amount of heat released even in the case of arbitrarily large pressures? Explain your answer. [2 marks]