Purification of hexafluoro-1,3-butadiene

This invention relates to a process for the purification of hexafluoro-1,3-butadiene, and more particularly to such a process employing an adsorbent to accomplish the desired purification. An HFBD purification process includes: (a) contacting a composition containing HFBD with an adsorbent to remove from the HFBD at least two impurities selected from the group consisting of water, an alcohol, hydrofluoric acid and a fluorinated olefin, wherein the adsorbent is a solid having an average pore diameter of about 5 and the adsorbent is contacted with the HFBD at a rate of at least 2.7 kg of the HFBD per hour; and (b) recovering from the adsorbent a purified HFBD product containing at least 99.9 vol. % HFBD, a reduced amount of the impurities and less than 0.1 vol. % hexafluoro-2-butyne. Alternatively, the process can be conducted at any contacting rate to produce 99.96 vol. % HFBD. The process can also be conducted at any contacting rate in a bed within a column having a length of at least 30 cm and an inner diameter of at least 2.5 cm.