Patent ID: 6482323
Filing Date: 2002-11-19
Classification: B01D,B01J,C13B

Abstract:
A chromatographic separation process of a type wherein a feedstock fluid containing a plurality of components having different degrees of affinity for an adsorbent are supplied into a chromatographic separation system, in which the downstream end of a bed packed with the adsorbent is connected to its upstream end by a piping to enable the fluid to flow circulatively from the upstream end of the packed bed to its downstream end to form adsorption zones having concentration distributions of the respective components in the packed bed and then to get two or more fractions enriched by the respective components, the process comprising the steps of:(i) supplying the feedstock fluid into the packed bed at its upstream end while withdrawing a fraction enriched in a first component from the downstream end of the bed, (ii) supplying a desorbent fluid into the packed bed at its upstream end while withdrawing a fraction enriched in a second component from the downstream end of the bed, and (iii) circulating the fluid in the packed bed from the downstream end of the bed through the piping to its upstream end without supplying or withdrawing any fluid into or from the packed bed, thereby making a mixed zone where the first component withdrawn in step (i) and the second component are present in admixture move to the upstream end of the packed bed, the steps (i) to (iii) being performed cyclically and repeatedly, wherein the packed bed comprises a first unit bed packed with an adsorbent, to which the feedstock fluid is supplied, and at least one other unit bed packed with an adsorbent, and the adsorbent packed into the first unit bed, to which the feedstock fluid is supplied, has a greater average particle size than that packed in the at least one other unit packed bed.