(509b) Removal of Oxygenated Species From Liquid Toluene by Adsorption

Removal of oxygenated species from liquid toluene by adsorption

Cristian C. Brunchi, Andrzej I. Stankiewicz, Herman J.M. Kramer and Thijs J.H. Vlugt

Process& Energy Laboratory, Delft University of Technology, NL-2628 CA Delft, the   Netherlands

Corresponding author e-mail: c.c.brunchi@tudelft.nl

  The goal of this study is to develop a general methodology that can allow one to select a good zeolite adsorbent for any specific case study that requires removal of traces of mixtures from bulk liquid systems. As a case study, we are investigating the removal of mixtures of oxygenated odor compounds from liquid toluene using adsorption as a separation technology. The typical odor compounds present in the toluene stream are: butanal, ethyl-hexenal, dimethylcyclohexanone, trimethylphenol and trimethylanisole. Pure component adsorption isotherms in Na-Y zeolite are computed using Monte Carlo simulations. Binary, ternary and 6-component mixture isotherms are generated using the Adsorbed Solution Theory (AST). The fugacity of the liquid bulk mixture is calculated with two approaches: using the Peng-Robinson EOS and by calculating the activity coefficients in the bulk liquid mixture (gama-phi approach). Finally the generated adsorption isotherms are compared with experimentally obtained adsorption isotherms. Preliminary results show that the system behaves strongly non-ideal in the adsorbed phase.