Separation of hydrocarbon mixture of neopentane and n-hexane using NaY zeolite: Large distinct diffusivity

A recently proposed method based on Levitation and Blow torch effects, is employed here to see if it can separate a mixture of neopentane and n-hexane. The results show that the mixture can be separated with a hot zone temperature of just 40 K above the ambient temperature, 300 K. The two components are found to accumulate at the two extreme ends of the zeolite column. The computed separation factor is in the range of 10¹⁵ -10²⁰ (as compared to 10⁴ for existing separation methods). The energy expense for the separation is significantly smaller than for existing separation methods by several orders of magnitude. Transport (D₁₁ ), self (D_s ), and distinct diffusivities (D_d ) of the mixture were computed. The contribution of distinct diffusivity to the transport diffusivity is 70% as compared to 10%-30% seen in other separation methods and is larger by 2.3 times as compared to the self-diffusivity.