ZJU Researchers Make Breakthrough Achievements in Acetylene Capture from Ethylene

The research team led by Prof. Xing Huabin of the College of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Zhejiang University, together with his international collaborators, made a groundbreaking research into acetylene capture from ethylene. Relevant findings were published online in an article titled “Pore chemistry and size control in hybrid porous materials for acetylene capture from ethylene”.

As such gases as natural gas, shale gas and polyethylene have become increasingly important energy sources and industrial chemicals, there has been an urgent need for research and development regarding gas separation technologies in recent years. The trade-off between physical adsorption capacity and selectivity of porous materials is a major barrier for efficient gas separation and purification through physisorption. Researchers report control over pore chemistry and size in copper coordination networks with SiF62- and organic linkers for the preferential binding and orderly assembly of acetylene molecules through cooperative host-guest and/or guest-guest interactions. The specific binding sites for acetylene are validated by modeling and neutron powder diffraction studies. The energies associated with these binding interactions afford high adsorption capacity (2.1 mmol/g at 0.025 bar) and selectivity (39.7 to 44.8) for acetylene at ambient conditions. Their efficiency for the separation of acetylene/ethylene mixtures is demonstrated by experimental breakthrough curves (0.73 mmol/g from 1/99 mixture).

Not only does this research offer an avenue for the separation of acetylene/ethylene mixtures in an efficient manner, but it opens up a new door for the separation of other gases.