ADSORPTION OF HYDROCARBON VAPOR MIXTURES ONTO ZEOLITE 5A

Adsorption of several hydrocarbons onto zeolite 5A has been investigat ed by means of the inverse gas chromatography technique. The adsorptio n isotherms of linear alkanes, C6H14-C16H34, at temperatures ranging b etween 320 and 380 degrees C, follow the Langmuir model. Aromatic and branched hydrocrbons are poorly adsorbed under the same conditions, wh ile at temperatures below 100 degrees C the adsorption isotherms are f itted by the BET model. Heat of adsorption and loss of entropy increas e linearly with the carbon number of linear alkanes. Experimental data were used to determine the monolayer capacity of zeolite 5A and permi tted the calculation of the surface area of the mesoporosity zone. Fin ally, adsorption of linear alkanes from mixtures was studied according to the equilibrium theory of multicomponent ideal gas adsorption. Res ults were compared with take-up experiments carried out on a bench-sca le molecular sieve bed. The selectivity of zeolite 5A molecular sieves for linear alkanes of different molecular weights, determined through bench-scale experiments, was in agreement with provisional data of th e theoretical model developed.