Boosting Ethane/Ethylene Separation by MOFs through the Amino‐Functionalization of Pores
Gang‐Ding Wang, Rajamani Krishna, Yong‐Zhi Li, Wen‐Juan Shi, Lei Hou, Yao‐Yu Wang, Zhonghua Zhu
Abstract
Abstract Adsorption technology based on ethane‐selective materials is a promising alternative to energy‐intensive cryogenic distillation for separating ethane (C 2 H 6 ) and ethylene (C 2 H 4 ). We employed a pore engineering strategy to tune the pore environment of a metal–organic framework (MOF) through organic functional groups and boosted the C 2 H 6 /C 2 H 4 separation of the MOF. Introduction of amino (−NH 2 ) groups into Tb‐MOF‐76 not only decreased pore sizes but also facilitated multiple guest‐host interactions in confined pores. The NH 2 ‐functionalized Tb‐MOF‐76(NH 2 ) has increased C 2 H 6 and C 2 H 4 uptakes and C 2 H 6 /C 2 H 4 selectivity. The results of experimental and simulated transient breakthroughs reveal that Tb‐MOF‐76(NH 2 ) has significantly improved one‐step separation performance for C 2 H 6 /C 2 H 4 mixtures with a high C 2 H 4 (>99.95 %) productivity of 17.66 L kg −1 compared to 7.53 L kg −1 by Tb‐MOF‐76, resulting from the suitable pore confinement and accessible −NH 2 groups on pore surfaces.