Adsorptive Separation of Light Olefin/Paraffin Mixtures

An effective adsorbent for the ethylene/ethane separation has been prepared by the dispersion of CuCl in large NaX crystals. The results from the thermo gravimetric analysis (TGA) indicate a maximal dispersion capacity of 36 wt% of CuCl for the NaX crystals. Single component isotherms of ethane and ethylene on CuCl/NaX show that the CuCl containing adsorbents are highly favourable to the olefin, which is ascribed to the strong interaction due to the formation of π-complexes between ethylene and CuCl. Breakthrough experiments demonstrate that CuCl/NaX can be used as an effective adsorbent for the separation of ethylene and ethane mixtures and would allow the use of more sustainable processes.