Fe-mordenite for high-performance N2 rejection

Zhi Yu, Jianing Yang, Seyed Hesam Mousavi, Penny Xiao, Xue Yan, Ali Zavabeti, Yongqiang Wang, Kaifei Chen, Zhe Jefferson Liu, Guoping Hu, Xiaoling Liu, Yu Zhou, Paul A. Webley, Gang Kevin Li

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleResearchpeer-review

Abstract

Nitrogen (N2) rejection holds great significance in natural gas industry. However, it is challenging due to the similarities in chemical and physical properties between N2 and methane (CH4), making it crucial to find N2-selective materials. Here, we report on Fe-mordenite (Fe-MOR), a modified zeolite with remarkable N2/CH4 separation performance, achieving a high N2 uptake of 0.85 mmol/g at atmospheric conditions with a non-equilibrium N2/CH4 selectivity of 6.9. Due to the much slower CH4 adsorption kinetics, the N2/CH4 kinetic selectivity is as high as 49.8. This kinetic difference was supported by density functional theory calculations, suggesting a higher energy barrier passing through Fe-containing channels for CH4 than for N2. The potential of Fe-MOR was manifested through pressure swing adsorption processes, achieving 99.1 % CH4 purity and 94.9 % CH4 recovery from a 10:90 N2/CH4 feed mixture. The corresponding energy consumption using this process for nitrogen rejection is only 10 % of that by cryogenic distillation.

Original languageEnglish
Article number157224
Number of pages14
JournalChemical Engineering Journal
Volume500
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 15 Nov 2024

Keywords

  • Fe-mordenite zeolite
  • Kinetic difference
  • N-selective material
  • N/CH separation
  • Pressure swing adsorption

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