Efficient separation of 1,3-butadiene from C4 hydrocarbons by flexible
metal-organic framework with gate-opening effect
Abstract
Efficient and economical separation of 1,3-butadiene (C4H6) from C4
hydrocarbons is imperative yet challenging in industrial separation
processes. Herein, a guest-induced flexible Mn-bpdc MOF has been
employed to separate C4H6 from C4 hydrocarbons, including n-butene
(n-C4H8), iso-butene (iso-C4H8), n-butane (n-C4H10) and iso-butane
(iso-C4H10). Significantly, C4H6 can instantaneously induce gate-opening
of Mn-bpdc MOF at 0.13 bar and 298 K, thus significant amounts of C4H6
can be adsorbed, while other C4 hydrocarbons cannot induce the
gate-opening even at 1 bar. The uptake selectivities of Mn-bpdc MOF for
C4H6/n-C4H8 and C4H6/iso-C4H8 are up to 40.0 and 45.0 at 298 K and 1
bar, respectively, both surpassing all the reported adsorbents. In
addition, breakthrough experiments verified that C4H6/n-C4H8,
C4H6/iso-C4H8, C4H6/n-C4H10 and C4H6/iso-C4H10 mixture can be
efficiently separated. More importantly, Mn-bpdc possesses excellent
water stability and outstanding regeneration ability for C4H6
separation, making it a new benchmark for C4H6 purification.