Adsorption separation of carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrogen on Hβ and Na-exchanged β-zeolite

Adsorption isotherms of carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and nitrogen (N2) on Hβ and sodium exchanged β-zeolite (Naβ) were volumetrically measured at 273 and 303 K. The results show that all isotherms were of Brunauer type Ⅰ and well correlated with Langmuir-Freundlich model. After sodium ions exchange, the adsorption amounts of three adsorbates increased, while the increase magnitude of CO2 adsorption capacity was much higher than that of CH4 and N2. The selectivities of CO2 over CH4 and CO2 over N2 enhanced after sodium exchange. Also, the initial heat of adsorption data implied a stronger interaction of CO2 molecules with Na+ ions in Naβ. These results can be attributed to the larger electrostatic interaction of CO2 with extraframework cations in zeolites. However, Naβ showed a decrease in the selectivity of CH4 over N2, which can be ascribed to the moderate affinity of N2 with Naβ. The variation of isosteric heats of adsorption as a function of loading indicates that the adsorption of CO2 in Naβ presents an energetically heterogeneous profile. On the contrary, the adsorption of CH4 was found to be essentially homogeneous, which suggests the dispersion interaction between CH4 and lattice oxygen atoms, and such interaction does not depend on the exchangeable cations of zeolite.