K-Chabazite Zeolite Nanocrystal Aggregates for Highly Efficient Methane Separation

Methane (CH4) enrichment and purification is of great significance for increasing the heating value of unconventional natural gas sources and curtailing its effect on global warming. For a long time, commercial adsorbents for CH4 separation have been hampered by low adsorption capacities, sub-optimal adsorption selectivities, or slow diffusion rates, which have significantly restricted separation productivity. Herein, we report a facile and green seed-passaging method to fabricate donut-like macro-meso-micro hierarchical zeolite K-Chabazite nanocrystal aggregates. This consecutive seed-inducing method requires no organic template. By utilizing this unique nanocrystallization technique, the CH4 adsorption capacity, gas diffusion rate, and separation productivity of the resultant material are dramatically increased compared with those of commercially available adsorbents, thus setting a new benchmark in CH4/N-2 separation. More importantly, production of this adsorbent can be easily scaled-up to the order of 100 kg using readily available raw materials in this environmentally friendly synthetic route, enabling potential industrial implementation.