Seek application technologies for MOF materials in the industrial purification of crude ethylene
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I would like to ask everyone: are there any of the various MOF materials currently under research in China that can be used for the separation and purification of industrial crude ethylene? The main gas components of crude ethylene are known to be 95.65% ethylene, 1.56% diethyl ether, 0.44% ethane, 0.50% acetaldehyde, 0.70% propylene, 0.30% n-butylene, 0.20% isobutylene, 0.15% CO, and 0.50% hydrogen. The separation adsorbent made from MOF materials is required to be able to raise the purity of ethylene to over 99.90%, which is the purity level required for polymerization. The remaining enriched “hydrocarbon by-products” will be removed using a VOC combustion removal process. It would be ideal if 2–3 different MOF materials could be used to achieve this goal, and if they could replace the existing \"distillation separation\" process while resulting in lower overall costs. Furthermore, it is desirable that these MOF materials be packed in a fixed-bed format and capable of periodic regeneration. Several MOF materials are best processed into “strip” or “tablet” forms. The service life of several MOF adsorbents can be at least 1 year (including regeneration time). If anyone has such technology, please get in touch.
Currently, the technology of using MOF materials in the purification of crude ethylene in industry is still in its infancy, but some research has already made progress in this area. The following is a possible application solution: 1. Selection of MOF material: Since ethylene is the main component, it is necessary to choose a MOF material with high selectivity for ethylene. For example, a MOF reported to have high ethylene selectivity is MIL-101(Cr). Furthermore, other MOF materials with selective adsorption properties can also be considered, such as MIL-53(Al), ZIF-8, and Cu-BTC. 2. Processing and loading of MOF materials: The selected MOF materials are processed into strip or tablet form and loaded into a fixed-bed reactor. 3. Separation process design: Design an appropriate separation process based on the adsorption properties of the MOF material and the composition characteristics of the ethylene mixture. It may be necessary to adjust the operating conditions (such as temperature and pressure) to achieve the adsorption and desorption of different components. 4. Regeneration of MOF materials: Design appropriate regeneration schemes to enable the periodic reuse of the adsorbents. The regeneration process can be achieved by adjusting conditions such as temperature and pressure. 5. Process control and scaling up: After successful tests on a small scale, large-scale process control and scaling up are carried out to meet the requirements for industrial application. It should be noted that since the application technology of MOF materials in the industrial purification of crude ethylene is still in the research and development stage, there may currently be no solution that meets all requirements. It is recommended that you contact relevant research institutions or companies to obtain the latest research findings and technical solutions. .
Does anyone know the current “research status” in this area?
Research on MOF materials for the purification of crude ethylene in industry is still in its developmental stage, and no fully mature technical solutions have yet been applied in actual industrial production. However, in recent years, some research institutions and companies both at home and abroad have explored this area and made some initial achievements. For example: 1. In 2019, the Canadian company Carbon Clean Solutions and a German research institution jointly announced that they had developed an efficient separator based on ZIF (metal-organic framework) materials, which can remove impurities from industrial ethylene and propylene, raising the purity of ethylene to over 99.9%. 2. A research team from the Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, by selecting appropriate MOF materials and optimizing the design of the adsorber as well as the process conditions, successfully achieved the separation of ethylene and ethane using MOF materials as adsorbents, increasing the purity of ethylene from 95% to 99.97%. 3. The Masdar Institute in the UAE has developed an adsorbent material based on CPO-27-Mg MOF, which can separate ethylene from ethane, thereby increasing the purity of ethylene to over 99%. In summary, although the use of MOF materials in the industrial purification of crude ethylene is still in its infancy, there are already some promising research directions and results. In the future, as research progresses and technology develops, it is believed that more technical solutions will be applied in industrial practice. .
It seems there’s still a long way to go before it can be used in industrial applications! :)
Yes, there are indeed some challenges that need to be overcome regarding the application of MOF materials in the purification of industrial crude ethylene. Although some preliminary research results have been achieved, several issues still need to be resolved in order to successfully apply these technical solutions in actual industrial production. These issues include: 1 Material properties and stability: MOF materials must possess high selectivity, high adsorption capacity, and stability in order to meet the requirements of industrial applications, as well as to withstand long-term industrial operation and recycling processes. 2 Process economics: Economic factors such as the production cost of MOF materials, the service life of the adsorbents, and the energy consumption during the regeneration process need to be taken into account to ensure the viability and competitiveness of the technology. 3 Scale-up application: It is a challenge to successfully scale up small-scale experiments from the laboratory to industrial scale while maintaining stable performance and results. It is necessary to develop suitable devices and processes to ensure the operability and cost-effectiveness of the technology. Although there is still a distance to go before industrial application, with the continuous advancement of research and engineering technologies, it is believed that more research and innovation will occur in the future, driving greater breakthroughs and progress in the use of MOF materials for the purification of crude ethylene on an industrial scale. .