Adsorption of 1-butanol and p-xylene vapor and their mixtures with high silica zeolites

Experiments on fixed-bed adsorption of 1-butanol vapor, p-xylene vapor and their mixtures with high silica zeolites (HSZ) were conducted. For the cases of single-component adsorption, the adsorption equilibria obey the Langmuir equation, and the presence of water vapor was found to reduce the amount of adsorption. On the other hand, water vapor showed no effect on adsorption kinetics. For binary adsorption of 1-butanol and p-xylene with HSZ of Y- and Mordenite-type, depending upon the relative concentration of the two species, either species may be preferentially adsorbed. No simple expression was found to represent the equilibrium data. In contrast, the Langmuir equation was found to represent the binary equilibrium data of HSZ of the ZSM-5 type. Further, the dynamics of the fixed-bed adsorption may be predicted with use of the extended mass-transfer-zone method.