Efficient C2H6/C2H4 adsorption separation by a microporous heterometal-organic framework

Purification of ethylene (C2H4) is an essential and energy-intensive process in the petrochemical industry. Adsorption separation using ethane (C2H6)-selective porous adsorbents is a highly efficient and straightforward method for obtaining polymer-grade C2H4 from a binary C2H6/C2H4 mixture. However, the design and construction of C2H6-selective adsorbents are very challenging tasks. Herein, we demonstrate a microporous heterometal-organic framework, CuIn(ina)4, can preferentially enrich C2H6 than C2H4. Experimental results revealed that CuIn(ina)4 exhibited remarkable separation performance for the C2H6/C2H4 mixture with a high C2H6 loading capacity (3.3 mmol/g), high IAST selectivity (2.3) and separation potential (1578 mmol/L for equimolar C2H6/C2H4 mixture) under ambient conditions. The effectiveness of CuIn(ina)4 for C2H6/C2H4 adsorption separation was confirmed by theoretical calculations and breakthrough experiments.