An Experimental Validation of the Concurrent Approach for Simultaneous Isotherm Determination and Process Design for Simulated Moving Bed (SMB) System

Determining adsorption isotherms for multi-component systems requires substantial experimental efforts, especially when the number of components is large. In our previous work, a rigorous dynamic model for the simulated moving bed (SMB) process was implemented and optimized deterministically. The internal concentration profiles were used to uncover the compositions where experiments for isotherm determination should be carried out. By this iterative approach, experimental efforts were reduced to minimal, and model reliability was increased.

In this report, we present a SMB process for the separation of toluene and dodecane using cyclohexane as desorbent. Bench-scale SMB mini-plant is constructed and used to validate the results obtained from the concurrent approach. This investigation is a natural extension of our previous work. Dead volume models are added to the SMB model. A refined/improved composition-selection algorithm that include sensitivity analysis for uncertain parameters is reported. Moreover, modeling results and experimental results are compared to demonstrate the advantage of the concurrent approach.

Reference:

Guo, S., et al.. A Concurrent Approach for Isotherm Determination and Adsorption Process Design for Multicomponent Systems. Chemical Engineering Science. Currently being reviewed.