Separation of ternary mixtures by pseudo-simulated moving bed chromatography

Modeling and simulation are presented of the separation of a ternary mixture by pseudo-simulated moving bed chromatography, according to the JO process of Japan Organo Co. The process cycle is divided into two steps. In step 1, feed and eluent streams are introduced into the system, equivalent to a series of preparative chromatographic columns, and the intermediate component is produced. In step 2, similar to a simulated moving bed (SMB), there is no feed and the less adsorbed species is collected in the raffinate while the more retained species is collected in the extract; this step is described by an equivalent TMB model. A parametric study is presented in order to analyze the sensitivity of the model to variations on the duration of step 1 and step 2 and on the intraparticle mass transfer coefficient.