Regeneration of Na-ETS-10 using microwave and conductive heating

Desorption of ethylene/ethane and carbon dioxide/methane mixtures was performed by microwave heating and conductive heating on Na-ETS-10. Gas recovery, Na-ETS-10 regeneration efficiency and swing capacity were compared between the two methods. Na-ETS-10 regeneration occurred within 8 min for microwave heating and 22 min for conductive heating. For microwave heating the energy consumption was 0.7 kJ/g Na-ETS-10 and the gas recovery was 94% for C2H4/C2H6 and 70% for CO2/CH4. Conductive heating had an energy consumption of 7.7–7.9 kJ/g Na-ETS-10 and resulted in 71% gas recovery for C2H4/C2H6 and 57% for CO2/CH4. The adsorption capacity of Na-ETS-10 did not change over five adsorption–regeneration cycles for both heating techniques. Microwave desorption provided a faster heating rate and desorption rate, higher desorption and gas recovery and lower energy consumption compared to conductive heating. Hence, microwave heating can be used as a more efficient and energy saving regeneration technique for Na-ETS-10 for adsorptive separation of binary mixtures such as C2H4/C2H6 and CO2/CH4.

► Performance of conductive and microwave heating for the regeneration of Na-ETS-10 is studied.
► Desorption of C2H4/C2H6 and CO2/CH4 was done by microwave and conductive heating.
► Na-ETS-10 swing capacity, regeneration efficiency and energy consumption were compared.
► Microwave heating is more efficient for separation of C2H4/C2H6 and CO2/CH4 for Na-ETS-10.