Adsorptive removal of sulfur compounds using IRMOF-3 at ambient temperature

Zinc-based metal-organic framework (IRMOF-3) was used as adsorbent for removal of dimethyl sulfide, ethyl mercaptan and hydrogen sulfide in fixed bed reactor at ambient temperature. These samples before and after exposure to sulfur compounds were characterized by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), and X-ray diffraction (XRD), and thermo gravimetric (TG), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The results show that IRMOF-3 exhibit the best performance for hydrogen sulfide removal with the highest breakthrough sulfur capacity, followed by ethyl mercaptan and dimethyl sulfide. This is in consistent with the interaction strength between IRMOF-3 and sulfur compounds. In the case of dimethyl sulfide and ethyl mercaptan, the interaction comes from the weak interaction between the amino group in the MOFs and the sulfur atom of the adsorbate. This can also be considered as a hydrogen bond complex in which the amino group in the MOFs and the S atom of the sulfur compounds play the role of H-donor and H-acceptor, respectively. In the case of hydrogen sulfide, the interaction with sulfur atom originates from the amino group and zinc site in the MOFs. The former is more like an acid-base interaction, whereas the latter results in new products of ZnS and H2O and serious destruction of the MOFs.