(539e) Optimization of Commercial Para-Xylene (PX) Simulated-Moving-Bed (SMB) Simulation Using Extended Langmuir Isotherm

In the petrochemical industry, Para-xylene is the high valuable compound, which exits in the mixture of ethylene benzene (EB), toluen and xylene isomers (para-xylene (PX), meta-xylene (MX) and ortho-xylene (OX)) after the catalytic reforming reaction. It is very difficult to separate PX from this mixture by the conventional distillation method because of components’s closed boiling temperatures. SMB is the continuous counter-current multicolumn chromatographic process, which has advantages to achieve the high PX’s purity. The objective of this study is to optimize the operating conditions of SMB unit using the design software, FAST-CHROM/SMB with the Extended Langmuir Isotherm (ELM). To get this objective, the dead volume and flushing scheme is developed and a novel Fowler isotherm adsorption is applied. The ELM parameters are obtained from single adsorption and binary adsorption experimental data. The optimization procedure comprises two levels to optimize bed-configuration parameters and flow rates. Optimal operating conditions of 7 and 8-zone are found by parametric study and maximizing recovery with a desired purity more than 99.7%.