Adsorption and Diffusion of Xylene Isomers on Mesoporous Beta Zeolite

A systematic and detailed analysis of adsorption and diffusion properties of xylene isomers over Beta zeolites with different mesoporosity was conducted. Adsorption isotherms of xylene isomers over microporous and mesoporous Beta zeolites through gravimetric methods were applied to investigate the impact of mesopores inside Beta zeolites on the adsorption properties of xylene isomers in the pressure range of lower 20 mbar. It is seen that the adsorption isotherms of three xylene isomers over microporous and mesoporous Beta zeolites could be successfully described by the single-site Toth model and the dual-site Toth model, respectively. The enhanced adsorption capacities and decreased Henry’s constants (KH) and the initial heats of adsorption (Qst) for the all xylene isomers are observed after the introduction of mesopores in the zeolites. For three xylene isomers, the order of Henry’s constant is o-xylene > m-xylene > p-xylene, whereas the adsorption capacities of Beta zeolite samples for xylene isomers execute the following order of o-xylene > p-xylene > m-xylene, due to the comprehensive effects from the molecular configuration and electrostatic interaction. At the same time, the diffusion properties of xylene isomers in the mesoporous Beta zeolites were also studied through the desorption curves measured by the zero length column (ZLC) method at 333–373 K. It turned out that the effective diffusion time constant (Deff/R2) is a growing trend with the increasing mesoporosity, whereas the tendency of the activation energy is just the reverse, indicating the contribution of mesopores to facilitate molecule diffusion by shortening diffusion paths and reducing diffusion resistances. Moreover, the diffusivities of three xylene isomers in all Beta zeolites follow an order of p-xylene > m-xylene > o-xylene OPEN ACCESS Catalysts 2015, 5 2099 as opposed to KH, conforming the significant effects of adsorbate-adsorbent interaction on the diffusion.