Deep removal of trace C2H2 and CO2 from C2H4 by using customized potassium-exchange mordenite

Hongwei Chen; Binyu Wang; Bin Zhang; Jiuhong Chen; Jiabao Gui; Xiufeng Shi; Wenfu Yan; Jinping Li; Libo Li

doi:10.1039/d3sc02147e

Deep removal of trace C₂H₂ and CO₂ from C₂H₄ by using customized potassium-exchange mordenite

Chem Sci. 2023 May 26;14(25):7068-7075. doi: 10.1039/d3sc02147e. eCollection 2023 Jun 28.

Authors

Hongwei Chen¹, Binyu Wang², Bin Zhang³, Jiuhong Chen¹, Jiabao Gui¹, Xiufeng Shi³, Wenfu Yan², Jinping Li¹, Libo Li¹

Affiliations

¹ College of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Shanxi Key Laboratory of Gas Energy Efficient and Clean Utilization, Taiyuan University of Technology Taiyuan 030024 China lilibo@tyut.edu.cn chenhongwei3197@hotmail.com.
² State Key Laboratory of Inorganic Synthesis and Preparative Chemistry, College of Chemistry, Jilin University 2699 Qianjin Street Changchun 130012 China 864421855@qq.com.
³ College of Chemistry, Taiyuan University of Technology Taiyuan 030024 China.

Abstract

Adsorptive separation using porous materials is a promising approach for separating alkynes/olefins due to its energy efficiency, while the deep removal of trace amounts of C₂H₂ and CO₂ from C₂H₄ is still very challenging for a commercial adsorbent. Herein, we report a low-cost inorganic metal cation-mediated mordenite (MOR) zeolite with the specific location and distribution of K⁺ cations acting as a goalkeeper for accurately controlling diffusion channels, as evidence of the experimental and simulation results. Deep purification of C₂H₄ from ternary CO₂/C₂H₂/C₂H₄ mixtures was first realized on K-MOR with exceptional results, achieving a remarkable polymer-grade C₂H₄ productivity of 1742 L kg^-1 for the CO₂/C₂H₂/C₂H₄ mixture. Our approach which only involves adjusting the equilibrium ions, is both promising and cost-effective, and opens up new possibilities for the use of zeolites in the industrial light hydrocarbon adsorption and purification process.