Journal of Chemical Engineering & Process Technology
Open Access

Abstract

Dearomatization of Normal Paraffin by Synthesized Nax Zeolite

Hossein Faghihian and Leila Riazi

Aromatic compounds produced in linear alkyl benzene (LAB) production process decrease the yield and quality of the product and enhance the deactivation rate of the catalysts. Therefore, the de-aromatization of different streams in LAB production complex is inevitable. In this research, the recycled paraffin from alkylation to dehydrogenation unit was de-aromatized by synthesized NaX zeolite. The effect of different parameters such as temperature, amount of the adsorbent, contact time and initial aromatic concentration was studied and optimized. The Langmuir and Freundlich adsorption models were applied to describe the equilibrium isotherms. It was concluded that the Langmuir model agreed very well with the experimental data. The calculated thermodynamic parameters of the adsorption showed that the adsorption process was spontaneous and exothermic. The reaction rate was estimated by the pseudo-second order kinetic model. To examine the re-generation ability of the adsorbent a fixed bed column was designed and the breakthrough curves were prepared for three successive regeneration cycles. The results indicated that the adsorbent capacity remained unchanged after three regeneration cycles.