ADSORPTION, GAS SEPARATION

Fig. 12. Classification of adsorptive separations where NG = natural gas and S = sulfur.

The special case involving the removal of a low (2—3 mol %) mole fraction impurity at high (>99 mol%) recovery is called purification separation. Purification separation typically results in one product of very high purity. It may or may not be desirable to recover the impurity in the other product. The separation methods appHcable to purification separation include equiUbrium adsorption, molecular sieve adsorption, chemical absorption, and catalytic conversion. Physical absorption is not included in this Hst as this method typically caimot achieve extremely high purities. Table 8 presents a Hst of the gas—vapor separation methods with their corresponding characteristic properties. The considerations for gas—vapor methods are as follows (26—44). 

Gas chromatography, depending on the stationary phase, can be either gas—Hquid chromatography (glc) or gas—soHd chromatography (gsc). The former is the most commonly used. Separation in a gas—Hquid chromatograph arises from differential partitioning of the sample s components between the stationary Hquid phase adsorbed on a porous soHd, and the gas phase. Separation in a gas—soHd chromatograph is the result of preferential adsorption on the soHd or exclusion of materials by size. 

The different technologies can be used separately or combined, such as gas adsorption followed by incineration. Depending on the system used and the organic compound content in the gas stream being treated, the resulting destruction efficiencies normally range between 90% and 99%. 

The search for adsorptive applications of MOFs has up to now mainly focused on the storage of small molecules in gas phase, for instance, H2, CO2, CH4, or NO [46, 92, 93]. This section focuses on the application of MOFs for adsorptive separation of larger molecules and in the hquid phase, a domain in which their potential only recently has been recognized (Figure 4.3). 

Procedures for determining fatty acids in sediments involved liquid-liquid extraction, liquid-solid adsorption chromatography followed by gas liquid chromatographic analysis [10-12], Liquid extractions have been performed with methanol-chloroform [13], methylene chloride [14] and benzene-methanol [15, 16]. Typical liquid-solid adsorbents are silicic acid. Standard gas chromatographic separations for complex mixtures employ non-polar columns packed with OV-1, OV-17, OV-101, SE-30, or glass capillary columns containing similar phases. 

The extension of the ideas presented in Sections 5.8 and 5.10 to the theoretical treatment of isotope separation by gas chromatography is straightforward. The isotope effects observed in chromatography are governed by the isotopic ratio of Henry s Law constants (for gas-liquid separations), or adsorption constants (for... 

Until late 1990s, purified m-xylene was produced predominantly by the HF/BF3 process developed by Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co. The separation is based on the complex formation between m-xylene and solvent HF/BF3. However, concerns about the process operation, environment, metallurgy and safety render the process commercially unattractive due to its use of HF/BF3. These concerns led to many developments in the adsorptive separation process for m-xylene separation [3-8]. The UOP MX Sorbex process, developed by UOP and commercialized in 1998, already accounts for more than 70% of the world s m-xylene capacity. A 95% m-xylene recovery with 99.5% purity can be achieved by the MX Sorbex process. 

Adsorption as a gas phase separation process fills a space in the spectrum of separations processes that encompasses both purification and bulk separations. The market for gas phase adsorptive separations is of the order of several billion US dollars armuaUy when aU sorbent, equipment and related products are included. 

In discussing gas phase separations, a few definitions will help in understanding the subject matter. Adsorbents, sometimes referred to here as sorbents, are solid chemical substances that possess micro-porous surfaces that can admit molecules to the interior surface of the structure. Zeolites in particular are solid, micro-porous, alumino-silicates with adsorption and or ion exchange capability. They affect separations by adsorbing molecules into their micro-structures. 

While inert and displacement purge regeneration is widely used in liquid phase separations, there are few industrially relevant inert purge systems employed in gas phase separations. It is sufficient to note that an inert purge regeneration can be done and it will generally be most effective at relatively high adsorption temperatures. 

---