Adsorption equilibria of C8 aromatic liquid mixtures on Y zeolites using headspace chromatography

Liquid phase adsorptive separations are found in several industrial applications such as the recovery of p-xylene from its isomers. In this study, the headspace experimental technique was used to measure pure and multicomponent adsorption equilibria of liquid xylenes in Y zeolite. Data for pure-component equilibrium were determined at temperatures between 80 and 120 degrees C and correlated using the Extended Langmuir model. The parameters for pure components estimated from the correlated data showed good agreement with data reported in previous studies and relatively low deviations when compared to the experimental data dispersion. Using the pure-component data, two models were tested for multicomponent (binary and quaternary) equilibrium correlation: Ideal Adsorbed Solution (IAS) model and Extended Langmuir Multicomponent model. The results from the IAS model did not conform well to the experimental results, indicating the existence of significant nonidealities in the system. The Extended Langmuir model predicted values generally in good agreement with the binary and quaternary experimental data measured using the Headspace technique.