Separation of n/iso paraffins by PSA

Experimental studies of pressure swing adsorption cycle (PSA) separation of n/iso paraffins for the octane improvement of gasoline were carried out in laboratory scale unit. The high pressure of the cycle was 5 bar and the lo w pressure was 0.5 bar at a working temperature of 295 degrees C. A set of experiments were performed in order to study the effect of purge to feed mo le ratio on the process performance. The experimental results show that whe n the P/F ratio increases, the purity of iso-fraction increases, reaching 1 00% purity at P/F = 0.25, where the recovery is 70%. (C) 2000 Elsevier Scie nce B.V. All rights reserved.