The rational design of Li-doped nitrogen adsorbents for natural gas purification

He, Jialuo; Mousavi, Seyed Hesam; Li, Guoliang; Li, Zhikao; Mokarizadeh, Abdol Hadi; Shang, Jin; May, Eric F.; Li, Gang Kevin

doi:10.1039/d0cp04690f

Cited by 7 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 58 publications

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“…For example, after pretreatment in a gas processing plant, the N 2 percentage of shale gas produced by nitrogen fracturing ranges from 6 to 10%, while the N 2 content of coalbed methane acquired by downhole extraction following deoxygenation typically ranges between 30 and 70% . Eliminating the unacceptably high percentage N 2 in various natural gas resources is a crucial step before their commercial sales …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Screening of Alkali Metal-Exchanged Zeolites for Nitrogen/Methane Separation

et al. 2023

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Methane (CH4) is the primary component of natural gas and must be purified to a certain level before it can be used as pipeline gas or liquified natural gas (LNG). In particular, nitrogen (N2), a common contaminant in natural gas needs to be rejected to increase the heating value of the gas and meet the LNG product specifications. The development of energy-efficient N2 removal technologies is hampered by N2’s inertness and its resemblance to CH4 in terms of kinetic size and polarizability. N2-selective materials are so rare. Here, for the first time, we screened 1425 alkali metal cation exchange zeolites to identify the candidates with the best potential for the separation of N2 from CH4. We discovered a few extraordinary zeolite frameworks capable of achieving equilibrium selectivity toward N2. Particularly, Li+-RRO-3 zeolite with a specific two-dimensional structure demonstrated a selective N2 adsorption capacity of 2.94 mmol/g at 283 K and 1 bar, outperforming the capacity of all known zeolites. Through an ab initio density functional theory study, we found that the five-membered ring of the RRO framework is the most stable cationic site for Li+, and this Li+ can interact with multiple N2 molecules but only one CH4, revealing the mechanism for the high capacity and selectivity of N2. This work suggests promising adsorbents to enable N2 rejection from CH4 in the gas industry without going for energy-intensive cryogenic distillations.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Screening of Alkali Metal-Exchanged Zeolites for Nitrogen/Methane Separation

et al. 2023

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“…However, industrial application of membranes still requires substantial advances in developing porous materials with high N 2 /CH 4 selectivity and N 2 permeability. 8 Therefore, developing an efficient adsorbent where the dilute component (N 2 ) can be captured and removed has been important for N 2 −CH 4 separation owing to the inherent low operating and capital costs of pressure swing adsorption (PSA). A few porous materials have been reported for effective CH 4 /N 2 separation, such as ZnZSM-5-pIM, 9 ZnY-PIM, 9 SAPO-34, 10 MIL-101, 11 MOF ∞ 3 [Cu(Me-4py-trz-ia)], 12 squarate-based MOF Co 3 (C 4 O 4 ) 2 (OH) 2 , 13 and certain classes of ZIFs (e.g., ZIF-8, 14 ZIF-68, 15 and ZIF-69 15 ).…”

Section: ■ Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, by using high-aspect-ratio zeolite seeds and optimizing membrane synthesis condition, − researchers have improved the N 2 /CH 4 separation performance of SAPO-34 membranes. However, industrial application of membranes still requires substantial advances in developing porous materials with high N 2 /CH 4 selectivity and N 2 permeability …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nitrogen Rejection from Methane via a “Trapdoor” K-ZSM-25 Zeolite

et al. 2021

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Nitrogen (N2) rejection from methane (CH4) is the most challenging step in natural gas processing because of the close similarity of their physical-chemical properties. For decades, efforts to find a functioning material that can selectively discriminate N2 had little outcome. Here, we report a molecular trapdoor zeolite K-ZSM-25 that has the largest unit cell among all zeolites, with the ability to capture N2 in favor of CH4 with a selectivity as high as 34. This zeolite was found to show a temperature-regulated gas adsorption wherein gas molecules’ accessibility to the internal pores of the crystal is determined by the effect of the gas–cation interaction on the thermal oscillation of the “door-keeping” cation. N2 and CH4 molecules were differentiated by different admission-trigger temperatures. A mild working temperature range of 240–300 K was determined wherein N2 gas molecules were able to access the internal pores of K-ZSM-25 while CH4 was rejected. As confirmed by experimental, molecular dynamic, and ab initio density functional theory studies, the outstanding N2/CH4 selectivity is achieved within a specific temperature range where the thermal oscillation of door-blocking K+ provides enough space only for the relatively smaller molecule (N2) to diffuse into and through the zeolite supercages. Such temperature-regulated adsorption of the K-ZSM-25 trapdoor zeolite opens up a new approach for rejecting N2 from CH4 in the gas industry without deploying energy-intensive cryogenic distillation around 100 K.

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“…Despite leaving serious environmental footprints such as greenhouse gas emissions, fossil fuels are still the most reliable resources for the world’s ever-increasing energy demand. Among fossil fuels, natural gas (NG) shows tremendous potential for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and has become a “clean” fossil fuel for the future . According to some estimates, the use of natural gas will be accelerated by 1.7% per year .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Among fossil fuels, natural gas (NG) shows tremendous potential for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and has become a "clean" fossil fuel for the future. 1 According to some estimates, the use of natural gas will be accelerated by 1.7% per year. 2 Anticipated by British Petroleum (BP), the natural gas share of the total energy consumption of the world will overtake that of coal in 2035.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Discrete-Continuous Genetic Algorithm for Designing a Mixed Refrigerant Cryogenic Process

Ebrahimi

Tamnanloo

Mousavi

et al. 2021

Ind. Eng. Chem. Res.

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Over the last few decades, the optimal design and operation of energy-intensive industries such as cryogenic process has gained considerable attention. Because of their high energy efficiency, compact design, and energy-efficient heat transfer, mixed refrigerant (MR) systems are used in several industrial applications. The optimal refrigerant compositionwhich is difficult to obtainis crucial to the efficiency of MR systems. In this research, we explore the MR cryogenic process optimization using 17 different components in the refrigerant stream with normal boiling points ranging from −268.9 to 36 °C to achieve the lowest specific energy consumption. Here, we developed a discrete-continuous genetic algorithm (DCGA) consisting of five steps to resolve the mathematical difficulties of the many-variable optimization problem. Through conducting two case studies, we proved that DCGA can locate the optimal solution in a reasonable amount of time. Compared to the best optimization practices in the literature, the new approach saved up to 12.5% of the unit specific energy consumption. In addition to MR systems, DCGA can also optimize other extreme problems with many independent variables.

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The rational design of Li-doped nitrogen adsorbents for natural gas purification

Abstract: Lithium (Li)-doped polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons showed a high potential for N2 removal from natural gas. Li doping significantly increases the gas adsorption energies resulting in considerable N2 adsorption selectivity.

Cited by 7 publications

References 58 publications

Screening of Alkali Metal-Exchanged Zeolites for Nitrogen/Methane Separation

Screening of Alkali Metal-Exchanged Zeolites for Nitrogen/Methane Separation

Nitrogen Rejection from Methane via a “Trapdoor” K-ZSM-25 Zeolite

Discrete-Continuous Genetic Algorithm for Designing a Mixed Refrigerant Cryogenic Process

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