Adsorptive separation of contaminants from naphtha

Claim 1

A process for separating polar organic compounds selected from the group consisting of thiophene, pyridine and phenol from a feed mixture comprising naphtha and said organic compounds which process employs an adsorbent consisting essentially of an X type potassium zeolite containing potassium cations at the cationic sites which exhibits selectivity to selectively adsorb said polar organic compounds while permitting the remaining portion of said naphtha to elute through said adsorbent and which process comprises the steps of: (a) maintaining net fluid flow through a column of said adsorbent in a single direction, which column contains at least three zones having separate operational functions occuring therein and being serially interconnected with the terminal zones of said column to provide a continuous connection of said zones; (b) maintaining an adsorption zone in said column, said zone defined by the adsorbent located between a feed input stream at an upstream boundary of said zone and a naphtha raffinate output stream at a downstream boundary of said zone; (c) maintaining a purification zone immediately upstream from said adsorption zone, said purification zone defined by the adsorbent located between an extract output stream at an upstream boundary of said purification zone and said feed input stream at a downstream boundary of said purification zone; (d) maintaining a desorption zone immediately upstream from said purification zone, said desorption zone defined by the adsorbent located between a desorbent input stream at an upstream boundary of said zone and said extract output stream at a downstream boundary of said zone; (e) passing said feed mixture into said adsorption zone at a temperature of from about 20° C. to about 250° C. and a pressure of from about atmospheric to about 500 psig to effect the selective adsorption of said polar organic compounds to the substantial exclusion of said naphtha by said adsorbent in said adsorption zone and withdrawing a raffinate output stream comprising naphtha from said adsorption zone; (f) passing a liquid-phase desorbent material consisting essentially of 1-octanol into said desorption zone at a temperature of from about 20° C. to about 250° C. and a pressure of from about atmospheric to about 500 psig to effect the displacement of said polar organic compounds from said adsorbent in said desorption zone; (g) withdrawing an extract output stream comprising said polar organic compounds from said desorption zone; and (h) periodically advancing through said column of adsorbent in a downstream direction with respect to fluid flow in said adsorption zone said feed input stream, raffinate output stream, desorbent input stream, and extract output stream to effect the shifting of zones through said adsorbent and the production of said extract output and raffinate output streams.