View article

The adsorption behavior of para-xylene on H/ZSM-5 and also monovalent cations ion-exchanged ZSM-5 zeolite was investigated in liquid phase adsorption and breakthrough system. Nitrogen adsorption, X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and also in situ Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy were also performed to characterize the adsorbents and study the type of adsorbed species and their thermal stabilities. The adsorption experiments were carried out at temperature of 130–170°C and the pressure between 6 and 8bar. Ion-exchange process was accomplished using metal cations such as lithium, sodium and potassium. H/ZSM-5 was found more efficient than other ion-exchanged ZSM5 zeolites in separation of para-xylene from its isomers. The isotherms for each isomer of C₈ aromatics and the desorbents possess the adsorption characteristics of Langmuir type. The selectivity …