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The continuous countercurrent moving‐bed separator
Author(s) -
Fish Barry B.,
Carr Robert W.,
Aris R.
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
aiche journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.958
H-Index - 167
eISSN - 1547-5905
pISSN - 0001-1541
DOI - 10.1002/aic.690350505
Subject(s) - countercurrent exchange , separator (oil production) , adsorption , chemistry , chromatography , volumetric flow rate , simulated moving bed , packed bed , analytical chemistry (journal) , langmuir adsorption model , continuous flow , thermodynamics , organic chemistry , mechanics , physics
An investigation of the continuous chromatographic separation of an equimolar mixture of 1,3,5‐trimethylcyclohexane and 1,3,5‐trimethylbenzene with a 2.4 m × 1.37 cm ID vertical countercurrent moving bed is reported. The solid adsorbent was 30 mesh Al 2 O 3 , and the separation was carried out at 200°C. Steady‐state axial concentration profiles of each species were determined by withdrawing vapor samples for analysis by gas chromatography. The binary mixture was continuously fed through a port located at approximately the midpoint of the column. The relative solids and carrier gas flow rates could be adjusted so that the more strongly adsorbed trimethylbenzene was transported downward, and less strongly adsorbed trimethylcyclohexane moved upward. For low feed rates, high‐purity product streams of each were obtained at the bottom and top of the separator. For sufficiently high feed rates, trimethylbenzene was transported upward as well as downward, and top product purity deteriorated. This behavior is in qualitative accord with the predictions of a dispersionless, one‐dimensional flow, adsorption equilibrium model incorporating a Langmuir isotherm.