Efficient C2H6/C2H4 adsorption separation by a microporous heterometal-organic framework

Lan Yang; Qiang Gao; Yan-Mei Zhang; Ruihan Wang; Li-Zhuang Chen

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2023.08.140

Efficient C₂H₆/C₂H₄ adsorption separation by a microporous heterometal-organic framework

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2023 Dec 15;652(Pt B):1093-1098. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2023.08.140. Epub 2023 Aug 22.

Authors

Lan Yang¹, Qiang Gao², Yan-Mei Zhang¹, Ruihan Wang³, Li-Zhuang Chen⁴

Affiliations

¹ School of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Jiangsu University of Science and Technology, Zhenjiang 212003, Jiangsu, PR China.
² School of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Jiangsu University of Science and Technology, Zhenjiang 212003, Jiangsu, PR China. Electronic address: gaoq@just.edu.cn.
³ MOE Key Laboratory of Green Chemistry and Technology, College of Chemistry, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610064, Sichuan, PR China.
⁴ School of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Jiangsu University of Science and Technology, Zhenjiang 212003, Jiangsu, PR China. Electronic address: clz1977@sina.com.

PMID: 37657209
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2023.08.140

Abstract

Purification of ethylene (C₂H₄) is an essential and energy-intensive process in the petrochemical industry. Adsorption separation using ethane (C₂H₆)-selective porous adsorbents is a highly efficient and straightforward method for obtaining polymer-grade C₂H₄ from a binary C₂H₆/C₂H₄ mixture. However, the design and construction of C₂H₆-selective adsorbents are very challenging tasks. Herein, we demonstrate a microporous heterometal-organic framework, CuIn(ina)₄, can preferentially enrich C₂H₆ than C₂H₄. Experimental results revealed that CuIn(ina)₄ exhibited remarkable separation performance for the C₂H₆/C₂H₄ mixture with a high C₂H₆ loading capacity (3.3 mmol/g), high IAST selectivity (2.3) and separation potential (1578 mmol/L for equimolar C₂H₆/C₂H₄ mixture) under ambient conditions. The effectiveness of CuIn(ina)₄ for C₂H₆/C₂H₄ adsorption separation was confirmed by theoretical calculations and breakthrough experiments.

Keywords: Adsorption separation; C(2)H(6)/C(2)H(4); Ethylene purification; Metal-organic frameworks; Microporous.