Isoreticular rare earth fcu-MOFs for the selective removal of H 2 S from CO 2 containing gases

Abstract
In this work, we present the implementation of reticular chemistry and the molecular building block approach to unveil the appropriateness of Rare Earth (RE) based Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs) with fcu topology for H2S removal applications. Markedly, RE-fcu-MOFs, having different pore apertures sizes in the range of 4.7-6.0 Å and different functionalities, showed excellent properties for the removal of H2S from CO2 and CH4 containing gases such as natural gas, biogas and landfill gas. A series of cyclic mixed gas breakthrough experiments were carried out on three isoreticular fcu-MOFs, containing linkers of different lengths (between 8.4 and 5 Å), by using simulated natural gas mixture containing CO2/H2S/CH4 (5%/5%/90%) under different adsorption and regeneration conditions. The fcu-MOF platform has good H2S removal capacity with a high H2S/CO2 selectivity, outperforming benchmark materials like activated carbon and Zeolites in many aspects. The comparison of H2S removal performance with the related structures of the RE-fcu-MOFs provides insightful information to shed light on the relationship between the structural features of the MOF and its associated H2S separation properties. The excellent H2S/CO2 and H2S/CH4 selectivity of these materials offer great prospective for the production of pure H2S, with acceptable levels of CO2for Claus process to produce elemental sulfur.

Citation
Bhatt PM, Belmabkhout Y, Assen AH, Weseliński ŁJ, Jiang H, et al. (2017) Isoreticular rare earth fcu-MOFs for the selective removal of H 2 S from CO 2 containing gases. Chemical Engineering Journal. Available: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2017.05.008.

Acknowledgements
P.M.B, Y.B, Ł.J.W, A.C and M.E thank Aramco sponsored research fund (contract. 66600024505). We would like also to acknowledge the support of supported by King Abdullah University of Science and Technology.

Publisher
Elsevier BV

Journal
Chemical Engineering Journal

DOI
10.1016/j.cej.2017.05.008

Additional Links
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1385894717307490

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