Method of manufacturing a zeolitic adsorbent useful for aromatic separation

摘要

A method of manufacturing a solid adsorbent which method comprises the steps of: contacting a base material containing type X or type Y zeolite with a fluoride-containing solution of sodium hydroxide at first ion exchange conditions to effect the addition of sodium cations to and the extraction of alumina from the base material; ion exchanging the base material at second ion exchange conditions to effect the essentially complete exchange of sodium cations; and, drying the exchanged zeolite at conditions ro reduce the LOI at 900 DEG C. to less than about 10 wt. %. The sodium cations can be essentially completely exchanged with either barium and potassium cations in a weight ratio of from about 1.5 to 200 or with barium cations alone.