Separation of C₂H₂/C₂H₄/C₂H₆ and C₂H₂/CO₂ in a Nitrogen-Rich Copper-Based Microporous Metal-Organic Framework

The purification of industrially valuable C₂H₂ and C₂H₄ from multicomponent mixtures represents a crucial process in the chemical industry. In this study, we present a copper-based metal-organic framework (L-py-Cu) built on a nitrogen-rich organic linker that is capable of separating C₂H₂/C₂H₄/C₂H₆ and C₂H₂/CO₂ mixtures, therefore producing highly pure C₂H₄ and C₂H₂, respectively. L-py-Cu exhibits favorable adsorption of C₂H₂ and C₂H₆ over C₂H₄ and thus achieves one-step C₂H₄ purification from C₂H₂/C₂H₄/C₂H₆ ternary mixtures, as verified by multicomponent breakthrough measurements. In addition, it can also extract C₂H₂ from C₂H₂/CO₂ binary mixtures.