Separation of p-xylene from multicomponent vapor mixtures using tubular MFI zeolite mmbranes

Xuehong Gu, Junhang Dong, Tina M. Nenoff, Dickson E. Ozokwelu

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

109 Scopus citations

Abstract

MFI zeolite membranes have been synthesized on tubular α-alumina substrates to investigate the separation of p-xylene (PX) from m-xylene (MX) and o-xylene (OX) in binary, ternary, and simulated multicomponent mixtures in wide ranges of feed pressure and operating temperature. The results demonstrate that separation of PX from MX and OX through the MFI membranes relies primarily on shape-selectivity when the xylene sorption level in the zeolite is sufficiently low. For an eight-component mixture containing hydrogen, methane, benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, PX, MX, and OX, a PX/(MX + OX) selectivity of 7.71 with a PX flux of 6.8 × 10-6 mol/(m2 s) was obtained at 250 °C and atmospheric feed pressure. The addition of a small quantity of nonane to the multicomponent mixture caused drastic decreases in the fluxes of aromatic components and the PX separation factor because of the preferential adsorption of nonane in the zeolite channels. The nanoscale intercrystalline pores also caused serious decline in the PX separation factor. A new method of online membrane modification by carbonization of 1,3,5-triisopropylbenzene in the feed stream was found to be effective for reducing the intercrystalline pores and improving the PX separation.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)624-633
Number of pages10
JournalJournal of Membrane Science
Volume280
Issue number1-2
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Sep 2006
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • MFI
  • Membrane modification
  • Separation
  • Xylene
  • Zeolite membrane

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