Ultramicroporous carbons featuring sub-?ngstrom tunable apertures for the selective separation of light hydrocarbon

作者：Du, Shengjun; Wang, Xingjie; Huang, Jiawu; Kent, Kirlikovali; Huang, Baolin; Karam, Idrees; Li, Zhong^*; Xiao, Jing^*

来源：AICHE Journal, 2021, 67(9): e17285.

DOI：10.1002/aic.17285

• adsorption
• C3H6
• C3H8 separation
• C-4 olefin separations
• ultramicropore carbon

Separations of both C-3 alkene/alkane and C-4 alkadiene/alkenes are of great commercial significance as propylene and butadiene represent important feedstock chemicals, but the full extraction of them using carbon-based separating agents has yet to be fully realized. Herein, derived from low-cost starch precursors, we report a series of ultramicroporous starch-based carbon materials (SC-M; M = Na, K, Rb), with sub-angstrom ngstrom tunable ultramicropore apertures to separate the targeted gases with high purity. Among these materials, potassium derivative SC-K can deliver high uptake capacities of propylene and butadiene (up to 2.20 and 2.36 mmol/g, respectively, at 100 kPa and 298 K) and superior selectivities due to a molecular-sieving effect, as evidenced through adsorption isotherms and breakthrough experiments. Low heats of adsorption enable regeneration of SC-M under mild conditions. To our knowledge, SC-K represents the sole example of a porous carbon material that demonstrates potential for highly selective sieving-driven separation of both C-3 alkene/alkane and C-4 alkadiene/alkenes.

• 单位
  西北大学