Chromatographic and SMB center-cut separations of ternary mixtures

Chromatography and SMB processes were studied to isolate only the intermediate retained component from ternary mixtures. The separation of ternary phenol and amino acid mixtures was simulated with Aspen Chromatography. Simulation results for the phenol system with 10m packing showed that recycled center-cut chromatography usually produced the highest purity compared to cascades with two 4-zone SMBs and a 2-zone SMB/chromatography. For the amino acid mixture at Pmax=1.0 bar and purity-recovery index=95%, the recycled cascade of two 4-zone SMBs had approximately a 25% larger productivity compared to the simpler recycled center-cut chromatography.