How Reliable Is the Ideal Adsorbed Solution Theory for the Estimation of Mixture Separation Selectivities in Microporous Crystalline Adsorbents?

Microporous crystalline adsorbents such as zeolites and metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have potential use in a wide variety of separation applications. The adsorption selectivity S-ads is a key metric that quantifies the efficacy of any microporous adsorbent in mixture separations. The Ideal Adsorbed Solution Theory (IAST) is commonly used for estimating the value of S-ads, with unary isotherms of the constituent guests as data inputs. There are two basic tenets underlying the development of the IAST. The first tenet mandates a homogeneous distribution of adsorbates within the pore landscape. The second tenet requires the surface area occupied by a guest molecule in the mixture to be the same as that for the corresponding pure component. Configurational-bias Monte Carlo (CBMC) simulations are employed in this article to highlight several scenarios in which the IAST fails to provide a quantitatively correct description of mixture adsorption equilibrium due to a failure to conform to either of the two tenets underpinning the IAST. For CO2 capture with cation-exchanged zeolites and MOFs with open metal sites, there is congregation of CO2 around the cations and unsaturated metal atoms, resulting in failure of the IAST due to an inhomogeneous distribution of adsorbates in the pore space. Thermodynamic non-idealities also arise due to the preferential location of CO2 molecules at the window regions of 8-ring zeolites such as DDR and CHA or within pockets of MOR and AFX zeolites. Thermodynamic non-idealities are evidenced for water/alcohol mixtures due to molecular clustering engendered by hydrogen bonding. It is also demonstrated that thermodynamic non-idealities can be strong enough to cause selectivity reversals, which are not anticipated by the IAST.

Automated summary

Microporous crystalline adsorbents like zeolites and MOFs have potential applications in various separation processes. The adsorption selectivity S-ads is a key metric used to quantify the effectiveness of these adsorbents in mixture separations. The Ideal Adsorbed Solution Theory (IAST) is commonly used to estimate S-ads, but may fail in certain scenarios due to inhomogeneous distribution of adsorbates or thermodynamic non-idealities.