Toward understanding the influence of ethylbenzene in p-xylene selectivity of the porous titanium amino terephthalate MIL-125(Ti): adsorption equilibrium and separation of xylene isomers

The potential of the porous crystalline titanium dicarboxylate MIL-125(Ti) in powder form was studied for the separation in liquid phase of xylene isomers and ethylbenzene (MIL stands for Materials from Institut Lavoisier). We report here a detailed experimental study consisting of binary and multi-component adsorption equilibrium of xylene isomers in MIL-125(Ti) powder at low (≤0.8 M) and bulk (≥0.8 M) concentrations. A series of multi-component breakthrough experiments was first performed using n-heptane as the eluent at 313 K, and the obtained selectivities were compared, followed by binary breakthrough experiments to determine the adsorption isotherms at 313 K, using n-heptane as the eluent. MIL-125(Ti) is a para-selective material suitable at low concentrations to separate p-xylene from the other xylene isomers. Pulse experiments indicate a separation factor of 1.3 for p-xylene over o-xylene and m-xylene, while breakthrough experiments using a diluted ternary mixture lead to selectivity values of 1.5 and 1.6 for p-xylene over m-xylene and o-xylene, respectively. Introduction of ethylbenzene in the mixture results however in a decrease of the selectivity.