Moving bed adsorber and desorber apparatus and methods, wherein adsorbent
material (e.g., beads of resin) moves over a series of vane members and a
fluid flow passes between the vane members and through the flowing bed of
adsorbent. An adsorbent depth regulator is positioned a spaced distance
from the vanes to regulate the depth of the flowing adsorbent bed. In
some embodiments, the adsorbent flow may be divided into 2 or more
separate streams that pass over 2 or more separate arrays of vane
members. Also disclosed are shell and tube desorber apparatus wherein the
shell and tube are positioned at certain angle(s) to optimize flow and
recovery of contaminant from an adsorbent material and/or wherein vacuum
is applied to the adsorbent concurrently with heat to enhance the
desorption of contaminant from the adsorbent material.