Development of gas‐phase SMB technology for light olefin/paraffin separations

The separation of ethylene from ethane is particularly complex due to their similar physical properties. Cryogenic distillation is the most common technology employed for this separation and is one of the most expensive operations in industry, being the driving force for the ongoing research to find a more cost‐effective alternative. In the present work, a gas‐phase simulated moving bed (SMB) bench unit was employed to produce polymer‐grade ethylene from ethane/ethylene mixtures, using binderless 13X zeolite beads as adsorbent, and propane as desorbent. The achieved performance parameters demonstrated the high efficiency of the current technology, since ethylene was obtained with a purity of 99.8%, a recovery of 99.8%, and a productivity of 59.7 kg C2H4 ·h −1 · . Considering the encouraging results obtained it is fair to say that the gas‐phase SMB is a competitive and strong candidate as alternative to the conventional process, especially when combined with enhanced performance adsorbents, such as binderless zeolites. © 2016 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J , 62: 2490–2500, 2016