Separation of normal paraffins from hydrocarbon mixtures using zeolitic molecular sieves

Claim 1

A PROCESS FOR SEPARATING A NORMAL PARAFFIN FROM A HYDROCARBON MIXTURE BOILING IN THE GASOLINE RANGE CONTAINING SAID NORMAL PARAFFIN AND A HYDROCARBON SELECTED FROM THE GROUP CONSISTING OF BRANCHED CHAIN AND CYCLIC HYDROCARBONS WHICH COMPRISES CONTACTING SAID MIXTURE AT A PRESSURE SUFFICIENT TO MAINTAIN THE SAME IN A SUBSTANTIALLY LIQUID PHASE WITH A DEHYDRATED METAL ALUMINOSILICATE SORBENT HAVING PORES OF ABOUT 5 ANGSTROM UNITS IN CROSS-SECTIONAL DIAMETER, CAPABLE OF SELECTIVELY SORBING NORMAL PARAFFINS AND OF REJECTING BRANCHED CHAIN AND CYCLIC HYDROCARBONS, WITHDRAWING A NON-SORBED LIQUID HYDROCARBON STREAM OF DECREASED NORMAL PARAFFIN CONTENT FROM A RESULTING SORBENT CONTAINING SORBED NORMAL PARAFFIN, THEREAFTER CONTACTING SAID SORBENT CONTAINING SORBED NORMAL PARAFIN WITH A DESORBENT NORMAL PARAFFIN OF AT LEAST 4 CARBON ATOMS PER MOLECULE AND OF LOWER MOLECULAR WEIGHT THAN SAID FIRST-MENTIONED NORMAL PARAFFIN AT A PRESSURE AT WHICH SAID DESORBENT NORMAL PARAFFIN IS MAINTAINED IN SUBSTANTIALLY LIQUID PHASE TO THEREBY DISPLACE THE FIRST-MENTIONED NORMAL PARAFFIN IN THE SORBENT WITH SAID DESORBENT NORMAL PARAFFIN AND WITHDRAWING FROM THE SORBENT CONTAINING DESORBENT NORMAL PARAFFIN A LIQUID MIXTURE OF SAID FIRST-MENTIONED NORMAL PARAFFIN AND SAID DESORBENT NORMAL PARAFFIN.