π-Complexation Mesoporous Adsorbents Cu-MCM-48 for Ethylene-Ethane Separation

Copper incorporated MCM-48 molecular sieve adsorbents with different Cu content have been hydrothermally synthesized. The samples have been characterized by various physicochemical methods, including X-ray diffraction (XRD), nitrogen adsorption (N2) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The results reveal that Cu-MCM-48 with mass fraction of copper up to 10 % can still retain the uniform mesoporous framework of MCM-48. The copper in the framework of MCM-48 was easily auto-reduced to Cu(I) in N2 at high temperature, which did not alter the mesoporous structure of MCM-48. The adsorption equilibrium isotherms of ethylene and ethane on these molecular sieve adsorbents have been measured at 30°C. At 100 kPa, the adsorption capacities of ethylene on 5Cu-MCM-48 and 10Cu-MCM-48 are higher than those on MCM-48. The 10Cu-MCM-48 molecular sieve adsorbent has a higher selective adsorption ratio of ethylene to ethane, the separation factor is 3.8, and the amount of ethylene adsorbed is 11.1 ml·g−1.