Protech offers the widest portfolio of adsorbent technologies for a broad spectrum of applications in industries such as refining, petrochemical, chemical, and gas processing. The Protech portfolio includes proprietary alumina, silica, alumino-silica gels, bentonite adsorbents and a broad line of base metal oxide guard bed materials, including the PuriStar family.

Adsorption is the accumulation of atoms or molecules on the surface of a material. This process creates a film of the adsorbate (the molecules or atoms being accumulated) on the adsorbent’s surface. It is different from absorption, in which a substance diffuses into a liquid or solid to form a solution. The term sorption encompasses both processes, while desorption is the reverse process.

Adsorbents are used usually in the form of spherical pellets, rods, moldings, or monoliths with hydrodynamic diameters between 0.5 and 10 mm. They must have high abrasion resistance, high thermal stability and small pore diameters, which results in higher exposed surface area and hence high surface capacity for adsorption. The adsorbents must also have a distinct pore structure which enables fast transport of targeted molecules.