Research Progress in Metal-Organic Framework and Its Composites for Separation of C₂Based on Sieving Multiple Effects

Abstract

Fine separation of mixture is the primary importance technology and hot topic in the petrochemical industry. In particular, high-efficiency separation of C2 (C2H2/C2H4 and C2H4/C2H6) is a difficult issue and challenge of the high-quality production in modern chemical process. Traditional heat-driven separation processes (e.g., fine distillation separation and selective catalytic hydrogenation separation) have the shortages of high energy consumption and low economic benefits. On the contrary, the processes with non-thermal driven separations (e.g., adsorptive and membrane-based separations) can greatly overcome these weaknesses. Among these adsorptive separation materials, metal-organic framework (MOF) materials own a huge various library of components/structure units. Their characters of controllable pore structures and adjustable compositions will bring about new opportunities for the high-efficiency refined separations. In this context, the crystals and pore parameters of MOF ＋ (MOF and its composites) materials in recent years were sorted out and summarized, the researches in the high-efficiency separation of MOF ＋ materials for C2 were analyzed, and the key issues of the design, controllable preparation, and pore size control mechanism for MOF ＋ materials were focused on. In addition, the future research trend of MOF ＋ materials were also put forward.