Engineering ethane-trapping metal-organic framework for efficient ethylene separation under high humid conditions

One-step removing trace amounts of ethane (C2H6) during ethylene (C2H4) production using high-efficiency adsorption separation technology is in high demand in the petrochemical industry. This puts forward higher requirements for the rational design and preparation of C2H6-selective adsorbents that possess exceptional trapping capacity, selectivity, and stability. Herein, a stable material isomorphic to UiO-67 (known as UiO-67-DF) has been constructed to enhance the accessibility of adsorption sites in non-polar pores. This material demonstrates impressive improvement in both C2H6 adsorption capacity (3.65 mmol/g) and C2H6/C2H4 selectivity (1.9), outperforming UiO-67 (3.01 mmol/g and 1.5, respectively). Moreover, UiO-67-DF exhibits exceptional stability as evidenced by breakthrough experiments and shows its effectiveness in separating C2H6/ C2H4 mixtures at high temperatures and high humidity (316 K and RH = 100 %).