Evaluation of Equilibrium and Kinetic Parameters of Smaller Molecular Size Amino Acids on KX Zeolite Crystals via Liquid Chromatographic Techniques

Liquid chromatographic techniques have been employed to evaluate the sorption and diffusion characteristics of smaller molecular size amino acids on large zeolite KX-type crystals. The three amino acids investigated in the present study were cysteine, threonine, and serine. All three amino acids adsorbed quite rapidly but there are significant differences in both the equilibrium constants and intracrystalline diffusivities. Combined with the kinetic and equilibrium data of the other three amino acids reported previously, it can be concluded that the larger molecules generally show a lower equilibrium constant. However, no obvious trend can be observed for intracrystalline diffusivity data.