Molecular sieves are filter bodies with uniform, guided pores of any fixed diameter. They are generally used as drying agents or desiccants because they can adsorb water molecules of a diameter lesser than theirs.

This process is termed drying. 3A Molecular sieve has a pore diameter of 3A. So it can adsorb any molecules which are of lesser diameter than that. Therefore, the molecular sieve 3A beads can be used as a desiccant.

Solvents have a high affinity toward water once exposed to it. But these solvents are expected to be anhydrous for their purposes in the chemical world. Hence, it is very important to remove the water from solvents like acetone, ethanol, methanol, etc. and keep them dry. For this drying process, these solvents are processed with molecular sieves.

The molecular sieves need to be activated or dried before putting into use. To confirm if the sieves are dry, keep a bit of it in the palm and add a little water. If sieves generate a good amount of heat, they are dry and ready to use.

Drying process

Allow the solvents to pass through columns of molecular sieve 3A powder or beads continuously for a long time. These molecular sieves will easily absorb the water molecules of a diameter less than 2A. Since the solvent molecules are of higher diameter than sieves, they will not be trapped and will be let to flow. This drying process is easy to install and maintain.

The efficiency of the solvent dehydration process is based on the molecular size of the sieves.

Water molecules trapped in the sieves have to be removed at regular intervals. Otherwise, further dehydration will not be possible. This regeneration of the molecular sieve is also easy and simple. The saturated molecular sieves are heated at an elevated temperature to remove the already trapped water molecules and dry sieves. These regenerated molecules can be reused for dehydration.

Advantages of molecular sieve 3A beads

• ·        High adsorption speed
• ·        Regeneration capacity
• ·        High crush resistance
• ·        Pollution resistance
• ·        Longer life
• ·        Greater anti-contaminative resistance

These features make molecular sieve 3A the best choice as desiccants for solvent dehydration. The molecular sieve suppliers in the industry improve these properties and obtain the best sieves.