A novel fructose-based adsorbent with high capacity and its ethane-selective adsorption property

Separation of ethane/ethylene mixture at normal temperature and pressure is a challenging issue in the petrochemical industry. Herein, we synthesized Fructose-based carbon materials (C-Frus) with characteristic of ethane-selective adsorption for the energy-effective separation of ethane and ethylene. The as-synthesized sample C-Fru-4-700 exhibited narrow micropore size distribution and high micropore volume. More importantly, these samples presented preferential adsorption of C2H6 over C2H4, of which the ethane capacity of the sample C-Fru-4-700 reached as high as 7.94 mmol/g at 25 degrees C and 1001(Pa, much higher than that of many MOFs, and its selectivity for equimolar C2H6/C2H4 mixture reached 4 at low pressure. These excellent properties made C2H6/C2H4 mixture be well separated by fixed bed at 25 degrees C. Computational simulations revealed that the surface O-mte1, O-site2 and O-site3 sites of the materials are the favorably adsorptive sites of C2H6. Fructose-based carbon materials are promising for separation of ethane/ethylene mixture at normal condition.