Xylenes are mixed compounds of dimethylbenzene, which contains three isomers para-xylene (PX), ortho-xylene (OX), and meta-xylene MX. Both xylene mixtures as well as the three individual isomers are valuable chemical feedstocks in the chemical industry, securing the increasing world demand of petrochemicals and pharmaceutical intermediates. Separation of these isomers is a pressing challenge due to their overlapping physicochemical properties. Traditional separation technologies like distillation are energy intensive and laborious, which are not appropriate for sustainable development. To reduce the high energy consumption and decrease the environmental impact, adsorption by porous materials has been proposed and proved as an alternative strategy. Intrinsically porous molecular materials (IPMs) are mainly composed of organic macrocycles and cages which possess guest-accessible intrinsic cavities. They have been currently used for energy intensive separations due to their high efficiency and low energy consumption. In this talk, we provide a comprehensive summary of IPMs-based xylene separations as well as an overview of the challenges associated with the development of the technology and the future industrial translation of this class of materials.

Xylene isomers separations by intrinsically porous molecular materials (IPMs)

ACS Fall 2021

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