Adsorptive removal of halo-olefinic impurities from 1,1,1,3,3-pentafluoropropane over ion-exchanged Y zeolites

Various metal cations exchanged Y zeolites were prepared via the exchange of NaY zeolite with aqueous solutions containing K⁺, Ca²⁺, Cu²⁺, La³⁺ and Ce³⁺ cations, respectively. The influence of the extra-framework cations nature of these ion-exchanged Y zeolites on their adsorption performance for a low content of halo-olefinic impurities, mainly including 1-chloro-3,3,3-trifluoro-1-propene (HCFC-1233zd), 1-chloro-1,3,3,3-tetrafluoro-1-propene (HFC-1224zb) and 2-chloro-1,3,3,3-tetrafluoro-1-propene (HFC-1224xe), in the 1,1,1,3,3-pentafluoropropane (HFC-245fa) product after distillation was investigated. HCFC-1233zd impurity can be substantially removed from HFC-245fa product feed via the adsorption over multivalent metal cations and Cu⁺ cation exchanged Y zeolites, which is ascribed to the formation of π-adsorption complexes between HCFC-1233zd and zeolites, rather than over alkaline metal cations exchanged Y zeolites. Among multivalent metal cations exchanged Y zeolites, CeY has the highest adsorption capacity for HCFC-1233zd and best regeneration performance, due to its lowest density of strong Brønsted and weak Lewis acid sites as well as high framework stability during the regeneration. Regardless of the cations introduced in Y zeolite used as an adsorbent, HCFC-1224zb and HCFC-1224xe impurities are not obviously removed from HFC-245fa product feed via the adsorption, maybe due to more halogen atoms linked with the double bond in them comparing with HCFC-1233zd.