3. Simulated Moving Bed Reactor
Xylene isomerization is a reaction of the type A$B. In this case, reaction cannot occur near the extract point if high purity is required, otherwise the reverse reaction will pollute the product and purity will always be below 99%. To overcome this situation, reactors are inserted between the adsorption columns far from the extract point [9,10]. However, since the minimum concentration required in the extract for this new confi guration is about
70 wt%, a much simpler configuration can be employed. Keeping the catalyst and adsorbent mixed inside the columns, it may produce a high enough p-xylene concentration stream to be further processed by the crystallization unit. This approach involves simpler operation and allows the direct contact between catalyst and adsorbent resulting in more efficient p-xylene withdraw as it is formed to overcome the thermodynamic equilibrium constraints.