Patent ID: 7683233

Claim:
A process for producing a para-xylene enriched product from a gaseous mixture comprising at least para-xylene, meta-xylene and ortho-xylene, the process comprising: (a) contacting the gaseous mixture with an adsorbent capable of selectively adsorbing para-xylene and comprising a crystalline molecular sieve having an average crystal size between about 0.5 micron and about 20 microns, said contacting being conducted at a temperature and pressure such that at least part of the para-xylene in the mixture is adsorbed by the adsorbent to produce a para-xylene-depleted effluent stream; then (b) desorbing para-xylene from said adsorbent; (c) collecting the desorbed para-xylene to form a para-xylene enriched stream; and (d) repeating (a) and (b) for a plurality of cycles, wherein the time between successive contacting steps is no more than 10 seconds.