Use of raffinate line flush in a simulated continuous moving bed adsorptive separation process

摘要

The capacity of a simulated moving bed adsorptive separation process is increased by flushing the contents of the transfer line just previously used to remove the raffinate stream from the adsorbent chamber. The contents are preferably pushed back into the adsorbent chamber. This step is performed immediately upstream of the point of raffinate withdrawal. Preferably the feed stream to the process is used as the flushing liquid. This flush step eliminates the passage of a quantity of the raffinate material into the adsorbent chamber when the process conduit is subsequently used to charge the feed stream to the adsorbent chamber.