Collect. Czech. Chem. Commun.
1997, 62, 1832-1842
https://doi.org/10.1135/cccc19971832
Adsorption and Diffusion in HZSM-5 Zeolite Studied by an Oscillating Microbalance
Hans P. Reboa, De Chena, Marit S. A. Brownrigga, Kjell Moljordb and Anders Holmena
a Department of Industrial Chemistry, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), N-7034 Trondheim, Norway
b SINTEF Applied Chemistry, N-7034 Trondheim, Norway
Abstract
A novel microbalance technique has been used to study diffusion and adsorption in a commercial HZSM-5 zeolite. This new technique uses an inertial microbalance TEOM (Tapered Element Oscillating Microbalance) to measure mass changes in the zeolite bed. Time resolution as short as 0.1 s, a flow-through design where all the probe molecules see the zeolite bed and high sensitivity allowing zeolite loadings down to a few milligrams are the three most important properties of the TEOM. The probe molecules studied were o-xylene, p-xylene and toluene which were introduced at 303, 373 or 473 K and at partial pressures in the range of 0.2-10 kPa. The inverse characteristic uptakes (D/L2), corrected (D0/L2) and steady-state (Dss/L2) diffusion times are reported. The thermodynamic correction used for D0/L2 calculations almost eliminated the concentration dependence of the diffusivities. The Dss/L2 values were found to be rather unaffected by both temperature (373-473 K) and concentration, suggesting a certain degree of unification for diffusivities. o-Xylene uptake rates in the TEOM were found to be significantly higher than in a gravimetric microbalance under identical conditions, probably as a result of additional mass transfer resistance other than intracrystalline diffusion caused by poor contact between the gas phase and the zeolite in a conventional gravimetric microbalance.
Keywords: Adsorption; Diffusion; Zeolites; Oscillating microbalance.
