(329f) Adsorptive Separation of Chloronitrobenzene

Chloronitrobenzenes (CNBs) are used in numerous industries including pesticides, fungicides, pharmaceuticals, preservatives, photochemicals and rubber. There are 2 methods in preparing the CNBs. One is by nitration of chlorobenzene(CB) in the presence of mixed acid, which gives a mixture of about one-third o-CNBs and two-thirds p-CNBs and a small amount of m-CNB. The other method is by chlorination of nitrobenzene. The later method will produce an isomeric mixture containing the meta isomer as the major chloronitrobenzene constituent. To separate p-, o- and m-CNB isomers from each other, a suitable separation process is needed to be developed. This work, an adsorptive process is investigated as a potential CBN isomers separation. Preliminary adsorption results using X and Y zeolites with various cations exchanged are promising. Detail information will be presented and discussed.