Xylene separation on a diverse library of exchanged faujasite zeolites

For the first time, a systematic, consistent domain exploration has been conducted on mono- and bi-cationic exchanged X and Y faujasites for xylene separation using a combinatorial approach. In total, a large, diverse library of 68 faujasites exchanged with alkali cations (Na+, K+, Cs+) and alkali earth cations (Ca2+, Ba2+) was prepared and tested in the presence of three distinct mixture conditions of relevance to the separation process. From the measurements of the 68 × 3 breakthrough curves, we calculated separation performances for the three xylene isomers (p-, m-, o-X), EB, and PDEB. The set of performance properties generated for each adsorbent was analyzed by statistical methods enabling sorting into different classes of selective adsorbents. A rational mapping of exchanged faujasites for xylene separation was performed.