Tailor-Made Microporous Metal-Organic Frameworks for the Full Separation of Propane from Propylene Through Selective Size Exclusion

Hao Wang, Xinglong Dong, Valentina Colombo, Qining Wang, Yanyao Liu, Wei Liu, Xin-Long Wang, Xiao-Ying Huang, Davide M. Proserpio, Angelo Sironi, Yu Han, Jing Li

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

254 Scopus citations

Abstract

Adsorptive separation of olefin/paraffin mixtures by porous solids can greatly reduce the energy consumption associated with the currently employed cryogenic distillation technique. Here, the complete separation of propane and propylene by a designer microporous metal-organic framework material is reported. The compound, Y6 (OH)8 (abtc)3 (H2 O)6 (DMA)2 (Y-abtc, abtc = 3,3',5,5'-azobenzene-tetracarboxylates; DMA = dimethylammonium), is rationally designed through topology-guided replacement of inorganic building units. Y-abtc is both thermally and hydrothermally robust, and possesses optimal pore window size for propane/propylene separation. It adsorbs propylene with fast kinetics under ambient temperature and pressure, but fully excludes propane, as a result of selective size exclusion. Multicomponent column breakthrough experiments confirm that polymer-grade propylene (99.5%) can be obtained by this process, demonstrating its true potential as an alternative sorbent for efficient separation of propane/propylene mixtures.
Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1805088
JournalAdvanced Materials
Volume30
Issue number49
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 15 2018

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Tailor-Made Microporous Metal-Organic Frameworks for the Full Separation of Propane from Propylene Through Selective Size Exclusion'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this