Molecular dynamics investigations of the mutual diffusion coefficients in an Ar-Kr mixture confined in the zeolite NaY are reported. Velocity auto- and cross correlations were computed at two different temperatures (200 and 600 K). The importance of the appropriate choice of reference frame while evaluating the time correlation functions is illustrated for argon in the zeolite NaY. Mutual diffusivities in the mixture were obtained in the barycentric reference frame. Recently, Zhou and Miller showed that the distinct diffusivity D(d) is zero for the Ar-Kr mixture in bulk. On confinement, it is seen that at 200 K the ratio R=D(11)/D(s)=0.77, where D11 is the mutual diffusivity and D(s) is the mixture self-diffusivity. However, at 600 K, R=0.97, implying that the contribution from distinct diffusion is only slightly negative. The large negative D(d) at 200 K could be attributed to strong localization of Ar and Kr in the physisorption sites within the zeolite cages. Analysis of error bars and an efficient computational algorithm for evaluation of the velocity cross correlation function are also presented. The results have implications in biology, chemistry, and other situations where transport of confined mixtures is encountered.

Using a lattice model for adsorption in microporous materials, pure component adsorption isotherms are obtained within a mean field approximation for methane at 300 K and xenon at 300 and 360 K in zeolite NaA. It is argued that the increased repulsive adsorbate–adsorbate interactions at high coverages must play an important role in determining the adsorption behavior. Therefore, this feature is incorporated through a “coverage-dependent interaction” model, which introduces a free, adjustable parameter. Another important feature, the site volume reduction, has been treated in two ways: a van der Waal model and a 1D hard-rod theory [van Tassel et al., AIChE J. 40, 925 (1994)]; we have also generalized the latter to include all possible adsorbate overlap scenarios. In particular, the 1D hard-rod model, with our coverage-dependent interaction model, is shown to be in best quantitative agreement with the previous grand canonical Monte Carlo isotherms. The expressions for the isosteric heats of adsorption indicate that attractive and repulsive adsorbate–adsorbate interactions increase and decrease the heats of adsorption, respectively. It is concluded that within the mean field approximation, our simple model for repulsive interactions and the 1D hard-rod model for site volume reduction are able to capture most of the important features of adsorption in confined regions.

Mutual diffusion coefficients have been computed from molecular dynamics simulation of two different binary mixtures confined to zeolite NaY. In one of these mixtures, where one component is from the linear regime and the other from the anomalous regime of the levitation effect [S. Yashonath, P. Santikary, J. Phys. Chem., 1994, 98, 6368], the magnitude of distinct diffusivity, Dd, is unusually large and comparable to the mixture self-diffusivity Ds. Distinct van Hove correlations suggest that the large Dd seems to arise from the presence of distinct physisorption sites for the two components. The contribution from Dd might be important for achieving good separation of mixtures, for which zeolites are used extensively.

Distinct diffusion coefficients in the barycentric reference frame for equimolar binary mixtures confined in slit-shaped graphite pores have been evaluated using equilibrium molecular dynamics simulations. In all mixtures the ratio of the interaction energies and mass ratios are similar to those of a Xe-Ar mixture with σ 22 /σ 11 varied between 1 and 1.4. When σ 22 /σ 11 ) 1.0 both species adsorb in similar layers in the pore and the distinct diffusion is positive. As σ 22 /σ 11 is increased, the distinct diffusion is found to become progressively more negative. This increasing associative tendency as σ 22 /σ 11 is increased is predominantly due to the formation of distinct layers by individual species. In-plane pair correlation functions also reveal the increased association between unlike species with increasing σ 22 /σ 11 . The Xe-Ar mixture is observed to be associative, with negative values of the distinct diffusion when the fluid forms two layers in the pore. At smaller pore widths, where only a single layer is accommodated, the mixture is weakly dissociative. Simulations with a non-Lorentz-Berthelot mixture were carried out to illustrate the effect of the interaction between unlike species.