Patent ID: 6483002
Filing Date: 2002-11-19
Classification: B01D,C07C

Abstract:
A simulated moving bed adsorptive separation process which comprises:a.) passing a feed stream comprising a first and a second chemical compound into an adsorption zone comprising a bed of a selective adsorbent maintained at adsorption promoting conditions under which the first chemical compound is selectively retained on a quantity of the selective adsorbent, thus forming a raffinate stream comprising the second chemical compound and a desorbent compound formerly present in the quantity of the selective adsorbent; b.) passing a desorbent into contact with said quantity of the selective adsorbent which has retained the first chemical compound under desorption promoting conditions to yield an extract stream comprising the first chemical compound and the desorbent compound; c.) passing the extract stream into a fractionation column operated at fractionation conditions and divided into at least a first and a second vertical fractionation zones, with each zone having an upper and a lower end located within the fractionation column, with the first and second fractionation zones being in open communication at either their upper or their lower ends at a first end of the column and with the extract stream entering the fractionation column at an intermediate point of the first fractionation zone; d.) passing the raffinate stream into an intermediate point of the second fractionation zone of the fractionation column; e.) removing an extract product stream from a first end of the first fractionation zone, said first end not being in communication with the second fractionation zone and being located at the second end of the column; f.) removing a raffinate product stream from a first end of the second fractionation zone, said first end not being in communication with the first fractionation zone; and, g.) removing a desorbent stream comprising the desorbent compound from the first end of the fractionation column.