The separation of mixtures of isomers of alkanes in the 5-7 C atom range is an important activity in the petroleum and petrochemical industries. For example, the products from a catalytic isomerization reactor consist of a mixture of linear, mono-methyl and di-methyl alkanes. Of these, the di-branched molecules are the most desired ingredients in petrol because they have the highest octane number. It is therefore required to separate the di-methyl alkanes and recycle the linear and mono-methyl alkanes back to the isomerization reactor (Dandekar et. al. 2000). In the detergent industry, the linear alkanes are the desired components and need to be separated from the alkane mixture.
Next, we will discuss some characteristic simulation results.