Abstract
The separation and purification of methane from natural gas are crucial chemical processes. Herein, we report a Zn-cluster-based MOF (SDMOF-3), enabling the efficient separation of mixed low-carbon alkanes. The unique Zn clusters in the MOF enhance its interaction with hydrogen atoms in alkanes, thus realizing the separation of saturated light alkanes. Single-component gas adsorption tests revealed that SDMOF-3 exhibits significantly higher affinity for C(3)H(8) compared to CH(4) and C(2)H(6) at 298 K. Dynamic column penetration experiments with mixed gases demonstrated the excellent separation performance of SDMOF-3 for separating C(3)H(8) and C(2)H(6) from CH(4).