TY - JOUR
T1 - One-of-a-kind
T2 - A microporous metal-organic framework capable of adsorptive separation of linear, mono- and di-branched alkane isomers: Via temperature- and adsorbate-dependent molecular sieving
AU - Wang, Hao
AU - Dong, Xinglong
AU - Velasco, Ever
AU - Olson, David H.
AU - Han, Yu
AU - Li, Jing
N1 - Funding Information:
We would like to acknowledge the financial support from the Materials Sciences and Engineering Division, Office of Basic Research Energy Sciences of the U.S. Department of Energy through Grant No. DE-FG02-08ER-46491. Y. H. acknowledges the KAUST CCF fund for supporting part of this study.
PY - 2018/5
Y1 - 2018/5
N2 - Separation of alkane isomers represents a crucial process in the petrochemical industry in order to achieve a high octane rating of gasoline. Herein, we report the first example of complete separation of linear, monobranched and dibranched alkane isomers using a single adsorbent. A calcium-based robust microporous metal-organic framework, Ca(H2tcpb) (tcpb = 1,2,4,5-tetrakis(4-carboxyphenyl)-benzene), exhibits unique molecular exclusion behavior which enables full separation of binary or ternary mixtures of alkane isomers into the pure form of each isomerate. The successful separation of monobranched and dibranched alkane isomers will not only lead to the production of higher quality gasoline with maximum possible octane numbers but also fill the gap in the current separation technology. Exploration of the separation mechanism indicates that the structural flexibility and adsorbate-dependent structural change of the porous framework play a vital role in the observed temperature-dependent molecular sieving property of the adsorbent.
AB - Separation of alkane isomers represents a crucial process in the petrochemical industry in order to achieve a high octane rating of gasoline. Herein, we report the first example of complete separation of linear, monobranched and dibranched alkane isomers using a single adsorbent. A calcium-based robust microporous metal-organic framework, Ca(H2tcpb) (tcpb = 1,2,4,5-tetrakis(4-carboxyphenyl)-benzene), exhibits unique molecular exclusion behavior which enables full separation of binary or ternary mixtures of alkane isomers into the pure form of each isomerate. The successful separation of monobranched and dibranched alkane isomers will not only lead to the production of higher quality gasoline with maximum possible octane numbers but also fill the gap in the current separation technology. Exploration of the separation mechanism indicates that the structural flexibility and adsorbate-dependent structural change of the porous framework play a vital role in the observed temperature-dependent molecular sieving property of the adsorbent.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85047603367&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85047603367&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1039/c8ee00459e
DO - 10.1039/c8ee00459e
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85047603367
VL - 11
SP - 1226
EP - 1231
JO - Energy and Environmental Science
JF - Energy and Environmental Science
SN - 1754-5692
IS - 5
ER -