SEPARATION OF PETROLEUM-HYDROCARBONS USING DEALUMINATED MORDENITE MOLECULAR-SIEVE .1. MONOAROMATIC HYDROCARBONS

A crude oil monoaromatic fraction was applied to a Pasteur pipette packed with dealuminated mordenite molecular sieve and eluted with pentane solvent. n-Alkylbenzenes, n-alkyltoluenes and some n-alkylxylene isomers were sorbed into the mordenite molecular sieve and recovered by acid digestion of the sieve and solvent extraction of the liberated hydrocarbons. The excluded fraction which was eluted in the pentane solvent was enriched in the 3,5- and 2,6-n-alkylxylene isomers and other compounds possessing a higher degree of structural complexity. The mordenite molecular sieve provides a rapid and convenient method for the fractionation of monoaromatic hydrocarbons allowing the more subtle characteristics of these fractions to be studied in greater detail.