NO2 and SO2, as valuable chemical feedstock,
are worth being recycled from flue gases. The separation of NO2 and SO2 is a key process step to enable practical
deployment. This work proposes SO2 separation from NO2 using chabazite zeolite (SSZ-13) membranes and provides insights
into the feasibility and advantages of this process using molecular
simulation. Grand canonical ensemble Monte Carlo and equilibrium molecular
dynamics methods were respectively adopted to simulate the adsorption
equilibria and diffusion of SO2, NO2, and N2O4 on SSZ-13 at varying Si/Al (1, 5, 11, 71, +∞),
temperatures (248–348 K), and pressures (0–100 kPa).
The adsorption capacity and affinity (SO2 > N2O4 > NO2) demonstrated strong competitive
adsorption
of SO2 based on dual-site interactions and significant
reduction in NO2 adsorption due to dimerization in the
ternary gas mixture. The simulated order of diffusivity (NO2 > SO2 > N2O4) on SSZ-13 demonstrated
rapid transport of NO2, strong temperature dependence of
SO2 diffusion, and the impermeability of SSZ-13 to N2O4. The membrane permeability of each component
was simulated, rendering a SO2/NO2 membrane
separation factor of 26.34 which is much higher than adsorption equilibrium
(6.9) and kinetic (2.2) counterparts. The key role of NO2–N2O4 dimerization in molecular sieving
of SO2 from NO2 was addressed, providing a facile
membrane separation strategy at room temperature.