Sorption properties of synthetic ferrierite

Limiting sorption volumes of the hydrogen form of a synthetic ferrierite sample were determined for sorbates--water, methanol, propane, hexane, and o-, m-, p-xylenes--at 298 K and at a relative pressure of P/P o = 0.5 using a gravimetric sorption apparatus. Methanol, which has a kinetic diameter significantly smaller than the pore dimensions, was sorbed relatively rapidly and by the greatest amount. The sorption rates of other sorbates were very slow and for some it took several days for equilibrium to be established. The results indicated that, although their kinetic diameters are similar, the adsorption behavior of propane and hexane are quite different. Hexane is able to fill only ten-membered ring channels whereas propane is able to fill both ten- and eight-membered ring channels, at least partially. The inability of the hexane molecules to be sorbed into eight-membered ring channels is attributed to chain length effect. Xylene isomers are sorbed by the H-ferrierite but to smaller extents, consistent with the significantly larger kinetic diameters of these molecules compared to the reported pore dimensions of ferrierite. Among the xylene isomers, p-xylene, with the smallest kinetic diameter of three isomers, is sorbed to a greater extent than either o-xylene or m-xylene.

Keywords:

• Ferrierite
• Hydrogen Ferrierite
• Sorption