Bimetallic-MOF-Derived ZnxCo3- xO4/Carbon Nanofiber Composited Sorbents for High-Temperature Coal Gas Desulfurization

Ziwei Ru; Xin Zhang; Man Zhang; Jie Mi; Chunyan Cao; Zhifeng Yan; Mingzheng Ge; Hongchao Liu; Jiancheng Wang; Wei Zhang; Weilong Cai; Yuekun Lai; Yu Feng

doi:10.1021/acs.est.2c04193

Bimetallic-MOF-Derived Zn_xCo_{3- x}O₄/Carbon Nanofiber Composited Sorbents for High-Temperature Coal Gas Desulfurization

Environ Sci Technol. 2022 Dec 6;56(23):17288-17297. doi: 10.1021/acs.est.2c04193. Epub 2022 Oct 10.

Authors

Ziwei Ru¹, Xin Zhang¹, Man Zhang¹, Jie Mi^{2

3}, Chunyan Cao⁴, Zhifeng Yan¹, Mingzheng Ge^{5

6}, Hongchao Liu⁶, Jiancheng Wang^{2

3}, Wei Zhang⁵, Weilong Cai⁷, Yuekun Lai⁷, Yu Feng^{2

3}

Affiliations

¹ College of Textile Engineering, Taiyuan University of Technology, Jinzhong030600, P. R. China.
² State Key Laboratory of Clean and Efficient Coal Utilization, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan030024, P. R. China.
³ Key Laboratory of Coal Science and Technology, Ministry of Education, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan030024, P. R. China.
⁴ Department of Biomedical Sciences, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong999077, P. R. China.
⁵ School of Textile and Clothing, Nantong University, Nantong226019, P. R. China.
⁶ Institute of Applied Physics and Materials Engineering, University of Macau, Macau999078, P. R. China.
⁷ College of Chemical Engineering, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou350116, P. R. China.

PMID: 36214751
DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.2c04193

Abstract

Desulfurization sorbent with a high active component utilization is of importance for the removal of H₂S from coal gas at high temperatures. Thus, the hypothesis for producing Zn_xCo_3-xO₄/carbon nanofiber sorbents via the combinations of electrospinning, in situ hydrothermal growth, and carbonization technique has been rationally constructed in this study. Zn_xCo_3-xO₄ nanoparticles derived from metal-organic frameworks are uniformly loaded on the electrospun carbon nanofibers (CNFs) with high dispersion. Zn_xCo_3-xO₄/CNFs sorbents possess the highest breakthrough sulfur adsorption capacity (12.4 g S/100 g sorbent) and an excellent utilization rate of the active component (83.2%). The excellent performance of Zn_xCo_3-xO₄/CNFs can be attributed to the synergetic effect of the hierarchical structure and widely distributed Zn_xCo_3-xO₄ on the CNFs supporter. The decomposition of Zn/Co-ZIFs not only generates the nucleus of oxides but also realizes their physical isolation through the formation of carbon grids on the surface of CNFs, avoiding the aggregation of oxides. Furthermore, Zn_xCo_3-xO₄/CNFs sorbents show an overwhelming superiority over the ZnO/CNFs sorbent, which is attributed to the introduction of Co and then the promotion of the stability of Zn at high temperatures. The presence of Co also accelerates the adsorption of H₂S on the active site of the oxide surface. The presented method is beneficial for promoting desulfurization performances and producing sorbents with high utilization of active components.

Keywords: carbon nanofibers; coal gas desulfurization; electrospinning; metal−organic frameworks; sorbent.