Air separation on H-mordenite

The separation of air components, oxygen and nitrogen, to obtain oxygen-enriched mixtures was studied by molecular modeling, utilising the Grand Canonical Monte Carlo method. Since a good gas-chromatographic resolution between oxygen and nitrogen was obtained on acid mordenite, with oxygen eluted first, the differential adsorption of air components was studied on this porous material in selected ranges of pressures (120-200 kPa) and temperatures (300-383 K). The results, which show that an oxygen enrichment up to 80% can be obtained, cannot be explained only by the small molecular volume difference, but quadrupolar interactions must also be considered. These strong interactions between molecules and within the host change considerably the amount of sorbed molecules, which depends on the mixture pressure and composition and on the acidity of the sorbent as well.