Selective Adsorption of Ethane over Ethylene in PCN-245: Impacts of Interpenetrated Adsorbent

The separation of ethane from ethylene using cryogenic distillation is an energy-intensive process in the industry. With lower energetic consumption, the adsorption technology provides the opportunities for developing the industry with economic sustainability. We report an iron-based metal–organic framework PCN-245 with interpenetrated structures as an ethane-selective adsorbent for ethylene/ethane separation. The material maintains stability up to 625 K, even after exposure to 80% humid atmosphere for 20 days. Adsorptive separation experiments on PCN-245 at 100 kPa and 298 K indicated that ethane and ethylene uptakes of PCN-245 were 3.27 and 2.39 mmol, respectively, and the selectivity of ethane over ethylene was up to 1.9. Metropolis Monte Carlo calculations suggested that the interpenetrated structure of PCN-245 created greater interaction affinity for ethane than ethylene through the crossing organic linkers, which is consistent with the experimental results. This work highlights the potential applica...