title: Understanding the anomalous alkane selectivity of ZIF-7 in the separation of light alkane/alkene mixtures.
abstract: C2 and C3 alkanes are selectively adsorbed from mixtures over the corresponding alkenes on the zeolite imidazolate framework ZIF-7 through a gate-opening mechanism. As a result, the direct production of the pure alkene upon adsorption and the pure alkane upon desorption in packed columns is possible. Herein, a detailed investigation of the step-wise adsorption and separation of alkanes and alkenes is presented, together with a rigorous performance assessment. A molecular picture of the gate-opening mechanism underlying the unprecedented selectivity towards alkane adsorption is proposed based on DFT calculations and a thermodynamic analysis of the adsorption-desorption isotherms.
authors.affiliation: Catalysis Engineering, ChemE, Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Johan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: van den Bergh
authors.forename: Canan
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gücüyener
authors.forename: Evgeny A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Pidko
authors.forename: Emiel J M
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Hensen
authors.forename: Jorge
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gascon
authors.forename: Freek
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Kapteijn