11 January 2024 | Heng Zeng, Xiao-Jing Xie, Ting Wang, Mo Xie, Ying Wang, Rong-Jia Wei, Weigang Lu & Dan Li
This study reports the development of a metal-organic framework (MOF) named JNU-3a, which features dynamic molecular pockets along one-dimensional (1D) channels. These pockets enable the selective adsorption and removal of ethylene (C₂H₄) from mixtures containing C₂–C₄ alkynes, such as acetylene (C₂H₂), propyne (C₃H₈), and 1-butene (1-C₄H₈), in a single adsorption step. Laboratory-scale column breakthrough experiments using 1.4 g of JNU-3a demonstrated that the three alkynes break through the column at almost the same time but at later stages, allowing for the high-purity separation of C₂H₄ (>99.9995%) from the mixture. Pilot-scale column breakthrough experiments on 107 g of JNU-3a further confirmed the effectiveness of the material, with an average collection of 76.1 g of high-purity C₂H₄ per cycle. The study highlights the potential of JNU-3a for industrial applications in purifying C₂H₄ by concurrently removing C₂–C₄ alkynes.This study reports the development of a metal-organic framework (MOF) named JNU-3a, which features dynamic molecular pockets along one-dimensional (1D) channels. These pockets enable the selective adsorption and removal of ethylene (C₂H₄) from mixtures containing C₂–C₄ alkynes, such as acetylene (C₂H₂), propyne (C₃H₈), and 1-butene (1-C₄H₈), in a single adsorption step. Laboratory-scale column breakthrough experiments using 1.4 g of JNU-3a demonstrated that the three alkynes break through the column at almost the same time but at later stages, allowing for the high-purity separation of C₂H₄ (>99.9995%) from the mixture. Pilot-scale column breakthrough experiments on 107 g of JNU-3a further confirmed the effectiveness of the material, with an average collection of 76.1 g of high-purity C₂H₄ per cycle. The study highlights the potential of JNU-3a for industrial applications in purifying C₂H₄ by concurrently removing C₂–C₄ alkynes.