Patent ID: 7270792

Claim:
A para-xylene production system for producing a para-xylene enriched product, which comprises: at least one xylene isomerization reactor containing an isomerization catalyst and under a hydrogen partial pressure, wherein a feedstream comprises xylenes and ethylbenzene and the ethylbenzene is at least partially isomerized and/or at least partially destroyed and the xylenes is isomerized to produce a first product having para-xylene at or near an equilibrium concentration under isomerization conditions; at least one vapor phase swing adsorption unit operating in a cycle to produce from the first product, alternately, a para-xylene depleted product in an adsorption mode and the para-xylene enriched product having a super-equilibrium para-xylene concentration in a desorption mode; and at least one para-xylene recovery unit wherein para-xylene is separated and recovered from the para-xylene enriched product.