Multicomponent sorption of hexane isomers in zeolite BETA

Breakthrough curves of single, binary, ternary, and quaternary mixtures of hexane (C6) isomers n‐hexane (nHEX), 3‐methylpentane (3MP), 2,3‐dimethylbutane (23DMB), and 2,2‐dimethylbutane (22DMB) were performed in commercial pellets of zeolite BETA (BEA structure), covering the temperature range between 423 and 523 K and partial pressures up to 30 kPa. From these data, single and multicomponent adsorption equilibrium isotherms were collected. A tri‐site Langmuir model (TSL) was developed to interpret the equilibrium data based on considerations about zeolite structure, and a dynamic adsorption model was tested predicting with a good accuracy the behavior of multicomponent fixed‐bed experiments. At the partial pressures studied, the sorption hierarchy in the zeolite BETA is nHEX >>> 3MP > 23DMB >> 22DMB. BEA structure demonstrates a significant selectivity between C6 isomers, especially at low coverage, giving a good perspective regarding their separation by adsorption processes.