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Updated: Feb 3, 2026

Synthesis and Characterization of Functionalized Metal-organic Frameworks
Published on: September 5, 2014
Ethane/ethylene separation in a metal-organic framework with iron-peroxo sites
Libo Li1,2,3, Rui-Biao Lin2, Rajamani Krishna4
1College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan 030024, Shanxi, China.
Abstract:
The separation of ethane from its corresponding ethylene is an important, challenging, and energy-intensive process in the chemical industry. Here we report a microporous metal-organic framework, iron(III) peroxide 2,5-dioxido-1,4-benzenedicarboxylate [Fe2(O2)(dobdc) (dobdc4-: 2,5-dioxido-1,4-benzenedicarboxylate)], with iron (Fe)-peroxo sites for the preferential binding of ethane over ethylene and thus highly selective separation of C2H6/C2H4 Neutron powder diffraction studies and theoretical calculations demonstrate the key role of Fe-peroxo sites for the recognition of ethane. The high performance of Fe2(O2)(dobdc) for the ethane/ethylene separation has been validated by gas sorption isotherms, ideal adsorbed solution theory calculations, and simulated and experimental breakthrough curves. Through a fixed-bed column packed with this porous material, polymer-grade ethylene (99.99% pure) can be straightforwardly produced from ethane/ethylene mixtures during the first adsorption cycle, demonstrating the potential of Fe2(O2)(dobdc) for this important industrial separation with a low energy cost under ambient conditions.
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