Control of pore environment in highly porous carbon materials for C2H6/C2H4 separation with exceptional ethane uptake

Abstract

Adsorptive separation of C2H6 from C2H4 by adsorbents is an energy-efficient and promising method to boost the polymer grades C2H4 production. However, that C2H6 and C2H4 display very similar physical properties, making their separation extremely challenging. In this work, by regulating the pore environment in a family of chitosan-based carbon materials (C-CTS-1, C-CTS-2, C-CTS-4, and C-CTS-6)- we target ultrahigh C2H6 uptake and C2H6/C2H4 separation, which exceeds most benchmark carbon materials. Explicitly, the C2H6 uptake of C-CTS-2 (166 cm3/g at 100 kPa and 298 K) has the second-highest adsorption capacity among all the porous materials. In addition, C-CTS-2 gives C2H6/C2H4 selectivity of 1.75 toward a 1:15 mixture of C2H6/C2H4. Notably, the adsorption enthalpies for C2H6 in C-CTS-2 are low (21.3 kJ/mol), which will facilitate regeneration in mild conditions. Furthermore, C2H6/C2H4 separation performance was confirmed by binary breakthrough experiments. Under different ethane/ethylene ratios, C-CTS-X extracts a low ethane concentration from an ethane/ethylene mixture and produces high-purity C2H4 in one step. Spectroscopic measurement and diffraction analysis provide critical insight into the adsorption/separation mechanism. The nitrogen functional groups on the surface play a vital role in improving C2H6/C2H4 selectivity, and the adsorption capacities depend on the pore size and micropore volume. Moreover, these robust porous materials exhibit outstanding stability (up to 800 °C) and can be easily prepared on a large scale (kg) at a low cost (∼$26 per kg), which is very significant for potential industrial applications.