A Robust Ethane-Trapping Metal–Organic Framework with a High Capacity for Ethylene Purification

Abstract

The separation of ethane from ethylene is of prime importance in the purification of chemical feedstocks for industrial manufacturing. However, differentiating these compounds is notoriously difficult due to their similar physicochemical properties. High-performance porous adsorbents provide a solution. Conventional adsorbents trap ethylene in preference to ethane, but this incurs multiple steps in separation processes. Alternatively, high-purity ethylene can be obtained in a single step if the adsorbent preferentially adsorbs ethane over ethylene. We herein report a metal−organic framework, MUF-15 (MUF, Massey University Framework), constructed from inexpensive precursors that sequesters ethane from ethane/ethylene mixtures. The productivity of this material is exceptional: 1 kg of MOF produces 14 L of polymer-grade ethylene gas in a single adsorption step starting from an equimolar ethane/ethylene mixture. Computational simulations illustrate the underlying mechanism of guest adsorption. The separation performance was assessed by measuring multicomponent breakthrough curves, which illustrate that the separation performance is maintained over a wide range of feed compositions and operating pressures. MUF-15 is robust, maintains its performance in the presence of acetylene, and is easily regenerated by purging with inert gas or by placing under reduced pressure.

A Series of Mesoporous Metal‐Organic Frameworks with Tunable Windows Sizes and Exceptionally High Ethane over Ethylene Adsorption Selectivity

“…The corresponding selectivity factors for MOFs reported up to now at ambient conditions are typically quite low (S < 3) with MAF-49 being the only exception with appreciable selectivity S = 9.0. [22,[28][29][30][31][32][33][34][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55] Theb est C 2 H 6 /C 2 H 4 absorption selectivity obtained for NIIC-20-Bu at similar conditions (S = 15.4) is 1.7 times higher than that for MAF-49 and greatly surpasses the majority of other literature results reported so far (Table S9). Other than the adsorption selectivity,the adsorption uptake is an equally important parameter for an adsorbent for gas separation applications.I nt his regard, am ore accurate evaluation of porous materials should be revealed from the selectivity vs.uptake plot.…”

Designer Metal–Organic Frameworks for Size‐Exclusion‐Based Hydrocarbon Separations: Progress and Challenges

“…Other ethane-selective MOFs include PCN-250, [66] PCN-245, [65] ZIF-7, [71][72] MIL-142, [64] and recently reported Cu(Qc) 2 [67] and MUF-15. [61]…”

Efficient ethylene purification by a robust ethane-trapping porous organic cage

“…Such a difference suggests that the host-guest interactions between CPOC-301 and C 2 H 6 are much stronger than that of C 2 H 4 . Notably, the C 2 H 6 uptake capacity of CPOC-301 at 293 K and 1 bar exceeds that of all the reported porous organic materials14 , and most of the reported C 2 H 6 -selective MOF materials5 . realize the complete separation of C 2 H 4 from C 2 H 4 /C 2 H 6 mixtures.…”