(627a) Adsorption and Diffusion of Gases In ETS-10 and Mof Adsorbents

Engelhard titanium silicate
ETS-10 is a microporous crystalline solid consisting mainly of an assemblage of
titanium oxide (TiO₂) and silicate (SiO₂). The pore size
in ETS-10 is uniform and similar in dimension to large-pore classical zeolites.
It is also known to have high thermal stability. Metal-organic frameworks
(MOFs) are another group of microporous structures made up of organic building
blocks (linkers) that are coordinated with metal ions acting as joints. 
Therefore, compared to conventional zeolites, these metal-organic structures
can give various pore properties and sizes by using different metal ions and
organic linkers. A variety of MOF known, denoted as Cu-BTC (copper (II)
benzene-1,3,5-tricarboxylate), has been synthesized in our laboratory. Synthesis
of ETS-10 is also in progress.

Despite the promise of MOF and ETS-10 as
potential new adsorbents for gas separation applications, only limited
equilibrium studies on these materials are available in the literature. 
Transport behavior of gases in the micropores of these adsorbents is
practically unknown.

We have, therefore, undertaken a program in our
laboratory to systematically study adsorption and diffusion of gases in ETS-10,
Cu-BTC and a few other varieties of MOF.  Gases such as CO₂, O₂,
N₂, H₂S, SO₂, C₂H₄, C₃H₆,
C₂H₆ and C₃H₈ have been shortlisted
for their industrial relevance in CO₂ capture and concentration,
natural gas upgrading, air separation and olefin/paraffin separation. Progress
made till the time of the conference will be covered in the proposed poster
presentation.