a b s t r a c tAn adsorption study of hexane and xylene isomers mixtures was addressed in a rigid zirconium terephthalate UiO-66 (UiO for University of Oslo) with octahedral and tetrahedral cavities of free diameter close to 1.1 nm and 0.8 nm, respectively. Multicomponent equimolar breakthrough experiments show that the adsorption hierarchy of structural isomers in UiO-66 is opposite to the one observed in conventional adsorbents. For hexane isomers, it was found that the amount adsorbed increases with the degree of branching, being 2,2-dimethylbutane (22DMB) and 2,3-dimethylbutane (23DMB) the more retained molecules. Regarding the xylene isomers, the results show that the adsorption of the bulkier ortho-xylene (oX) is favoured compared to its homologues. The structural similarity between MOF UiO-66 and zeolite MCM-22 suggests that the reverse shape selectivity observed in the adsorption of hexane and xylene isomers might be attributed to the rotational freedom of the molecules inside the small cavities.

A microporous MOF Zn(BDC)(4,4'-Bipy)0.5 (MOF-508b, BDC = 1,4-benzenedicarboxylate, 4,4'-Bipy = 4,4'-bipyridine) was examined for the separation and removal of CO2 from its binary CO2/N-2 and CO2/CH4 and ternary CO2/CH4/N-2 mixtures by fixed-bed adsorption. With one-dimensional pores of about 4.0 x 4.0 angstrom to induce their differential interactions with the three components, MOF-508b exhibits highly selective adsorption to CO2 with the,adsorption capacity of 26.0 wt % at 303 K and 4.5 bar. This is the first example of microporous MOFs for the separation and removal of CO2 from its binary and ternary mixtures by fixed-bed adsorption, establishing the feasibility of the emerging microporous MOFs for their potential. applications in this very important industrial and environmental process.

A three-dimensional microporous metal-organic framework Zn(BDC)(Dabco)(0.5) (BDC = 1,4-benzenedicarboxylate, Dabco = 1,4-diazabicyclo [2,2,2]octane), having two types of intersecting pores to encapsulate linear hexane and to block branched hexanes, and thus exhibiting highly selective sorption with respect to n-hexane, has been successfully applied to the kinetic separation of hexane isomers by fixed-bed adsorption. Document Type: Article Language: English