Purification of Propylene and Ethylene by a Robust Metal–Organic Framework Mediated by Host–Guest Interactions

Jiangnan Li, Xue Han, Xinchen Kang, Yinlin Chen, Shaojun Xu, Gemma L. Smith, Evan Tillotson, Yongqiang Cheng, Laura J. McCormick McPherson, Simon J. Teat, Svemir Rudić, Anibal J. Ramirez-Cuesta, Sarah J. Haigh, Martin Schröder, Sihai Yang

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

50 Scopus citations

Abstract

Industrial purification of propylene and ethylene requires cryogenic distillation and selective hydrogenation over palladium catalysts to remove propane, ethane and/or trace amounts of acetylene. Here, we report the excellent separation of equimolar mixtures of propylene/propane and ethylene/ethane, and of a 1/100 mixture of acetylene/ethylene by a highly robust microporous material, MFM-520, under dynamic conditions. In situ synchrotron single crystal X-ray diffraction, inelastic neutron scattering and analysis of adsorption thermodynamic parameters reveal that a series of synergistic host–guest interactions involving hydrogen bonding and π⋅⋅⋅π stacking interactions underpin the cooperative binding of alkenes within the pore. Notably, the optimal pore geometry of the material enables selective accommodation of acetylene. The practical potential of this porous material has been demonstrated by fabricating mixed-matrix membranes comprising MFM-520, Matrimid and PIM-1, and these exhibit not only a high permeability for propylene (≈1984 Barrer), but also a separation factor of 7.8 for an equimolar mixture of propylene/propane at 298 K.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)15541-15547
Number of pages7
JournalAngewandte Chemie - International Edition
Volume60
Issue number28
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 5 2021

Funding

We thank EPSRC (EP/I011870), the Royal Society and University of Manchester for funding. This project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No 742401, NANOCHEM). We are grateful to Advanced Light Source and ISIS/STFC for access to the Beamlines 12.2.1/11.3.1 and TOSCA, respectively. This research used resources of the Advanced Light Source, which is a DOE Office of Science User Facility funded under contract no. DE-AC02-05CH11231. X.K. is supported by a Royal Society Newton International Fellowship. J.L. thank China Scholarship Council (CSC) and the University of Manchester for funding. The computing resources were made available through the VirtuES and the ICE-MAN projects funded by Laboratory Directed Research and Development programme and by Compute and Data Environment for Science (CADES) at ORNL. The SEM was supported by the Henry Royce Institute for Advanced Materials, funded through EPSRC grants EP/R00661X/1, EP/S019367/1, EP/P025021/1 and EP/P025498/1. We thank EPSRC (EP/I011870), the Royal Society and University of Manchester for funding. This project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No 742401, ). We are grateful to Advanced Light Source and ISIS/STFC for access to the Beamlines 12.2.1/11.3.1 and TOSCA, respectively. This research used resources of the Advanced Light Source, which is a DOE Office of Science User Facility funded under contract no. DE‐AC02‐05CH11231. X.K. is supported by a Royal Society Newton International Fellowship. J.L. thank China Scholarship Council (CSC) and the University of Manchester for funding. The computing resources were made available through the VirtuES and the ICE‐MAN projects funded by Laboratory Directed Research and Development programme and by Compute and Data Environment for Science (CADES) at ORNL. The SEM was supported by the Henry Royce Institute for Advanced Materials, funded through EPSRC grants EP/R00661X/1, EP/S019367/1, EP/P025021/1 and EP/P025498/1. NANOCHEM

Keywords

  • crystallography
  • ethylene
  • host–guest interactions
  • metal–organic framework
  • propylene

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