Influence of monovalent alkaline metal cations on binder-free nano-zeolite X in para-xylene separation

The adsorption process was studied for separating para-xylene from xylene mixture on modified nano-zeolite X in a breakthrough system. Nano-zeolitic adsorbent with different ratios of SiO2/Al2O3 was synthesized through hydrothermal process and ion-exchanged with alkaline metal cations like lithium, sodium and potassium. The product was characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), nitrogen adsorption, transform electron microscopy (TEM) and in situ Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. The influence of nano-zeolite water content and desorbent type on the selectivity of para-xylene toward other C8 aromatic isomers was studied. The optimization of adsorption process was also investigated under variable operation conditions. The isotherm for each isomer of C8 aromatics and the desorbents possess the adsorption characteristics of Langmuir type. The selectivity factor of para-xylene relative to each of meta-xylene, ortho-xylene and ethylben-zene under the optimum conditions obtained to be 5.36, 2.43 and 3.22, in the order given.