High-purity meta-xylene production process

A process for production of purified meta-xylene from a mixed C8 aromatic feedstream, comprising:

• separating para-xylene from a mixed C8 hydrocarbon fluid comprising para-xylene, ortho-xylene, meta-xylene, and ethylbenzene, to provide a hydrocarbon feedstream comprising at least 5 wt % ethylbenzene, at least 20 wt % meta-xylene, and less than 5 wt % para-xylene;
• converting the hydrocarbon feedstream over a catalyst comprising a single molecular sieve under ethylbenzene conversion conditions sufficient to provide a primary product stream depleted of more than 50% of the ethylbenzene present in the feedstream;
• stripping benzene and/or toluene by-products from the primary product stream to provide a secondary product stream comprising at least 75 wt % mixed ortho-xylene and meta-xylene;
• and
• splitting the secondary product stream by removing orthoxylene and heavier materials present therein to provide a tertiary product stream comprising at least 95 wt % meta-xylene.