Xylene isomerization, zeolite membrane

Daramola M.O, Burger A.J, Pera-Titus M, Giroir-Eendler A, Miachon S, Dahnon JA, Lorenzen L. Separation and isomerization of xylenes using zeolite membranes A short overview. Asia-Pacific J Chem Eng 2010 5(6) 815-837. 

Daramola, M., Burger, A., Pera-Titus, M., Giroir-Fendler, A., Miachon, S., Dalmon, J.A., and Lorenzen, L (2010) Separation and isomerization of xylenes using zeolite membranes a short overview. Asia Pac. J. Chem. Eng., 5, 815-837. 

Separation of isomers is an application where zeolite membranes could be specifically interesting because of their well-defined pores that lead to molecular sieving effects. An application that is often considered is the xylene isomerization and related reactions. 

Table 10.2 Performance of several zeolite membrane reactors in the xylene isomerization reaction. 

Isomerization of xylene is also a very attractive application for MFI zeolite membranes (Fig. 10). The commercialisation of a new zeolite-based membrane is being planned by NGK Insulators for /i-xylene production from other xylene isomers, p-xylene molecules which are smaller than those of m- or o-xylene, are sieved from the mixture using the membrane, thus cutting significantly the production costs [157]. 

Zhang C., Hong Z., Chen J., Gu X., Jin W., Xu N. 2012. Catalytic MFI zeolite membranes supported on a-AljOj substrates for m-xylene isomerization. Journal of Membrane Science 389(1) 451M58. 

Zhang, C., Hong, Z., Gu, X.H., Zhong, Z.X., Jin, W.Q. and Xu, N.P. (2009) Silicalite-1 zeolite membrane reactor packed with HZSM-5 catalyst for meta-xylene isomerization. Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research, 48, 4293 299. 

Daramola M O, Burger A J and Giroir-Fendler A (2011), Modelling and sensitivity analysis of a nanocomposite MFI-alumina based extractor-type zeolite catalytic membrane reactor for m-Xylene isomerization over Pt-HZSM-5 catalyst , Chem Eng J, 171,618-627. 

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