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Nanomaterials
Volume 15
Issue 23
10.3390/nano15231820
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This is an early access version, the complete PDF, HTML, and XML versions will be available soon.
Article

The Molecular Sieving of Propylene and Propane on SAPO-35 Molecular Sieve

by
Yansi Tong
1,†,
Kadi Hu
1,2,†,
Qihao Yang
1,2,*,
Hao Liu
1,2,
Danhua Yuan
2,3,
Jungang Wang
4,
Mengting Lv
1,
Hailong Wang
1,
Ziqi Tian
1,2,*,
Yunpeng Xu
2,3,* and
Liang Chen
1,2,*
1
Zhejiang Key Laboratory of Advanced Fuel Cells and Electrolyzers Technology, Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ningbo 315201, China
2
University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
3
Dalian National Laboratory for Clean Energy, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian 116023, China
4
China State Key Laboratory of Coal Conversion, Institute of Coal Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Taiyuan 030001, China
*
Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.
†
These authors contributed equally to this work.
Nanomaterials 2025, 15(23), 1820; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano15231820 (registering DOI)
Submission received: 7 November 2025 / Revised: 26 November 2025 / Accepted: 28 November 2025 / Published: 1 December 2025
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable CO2 Capture and Catalytic Conversion)
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Abstract

Selective adsorption is regarded as a promising alternative for propylene/propane separation. However, the similar physicochemical properties of these two components pose a challenge in developing adsorbents that simultaneously exhibit high selectivity and substantial adsorption capacity. This study aims to achieve molecular sieving of propylene and propane by precisely controlling the pore size of silicoaluminophosphate (SAPO) molecular sieve. The pore size of the eight-membered-ring SAPO-35 molecular sieve is tuned via ion exchange to fall between the kinetic diameters of propylene and propane, enabling selective adsorption of propylene while excluding propane molecules. Ion exchange treatment increased the equilibrium adsorption selectivity of the SAPO-35 from 2.2 to 11.4, placing it among the highest-performing molecular sieve-based adsorbents. This modification also substantially improved the material’s regeneration capability at ambient temperature. Theoretical calculations reveal that steric hindrance effects, arising when gas molecules diffuse through the eight-membered-ring channels, contribute significantly to the high adsorption selectivity. Breakthrough experiments demonstrated that Na-SAPO-35 achieves a dynamic selectivity of 15.9 for propylene/propane separation. The development of Na-SAPO-35 adsorbents with high selectivity, substantial adsorption capacity, and robust durability is critical for advancing the industrial implementation of adsorption-based separation technologies.
Keywords: propylene/propane separation; silicoaluminophosphate molecular sieve; pore engineering; molecular sieving propylene/propane separation; silicoaluminophosphate molecular sieve; pore engineering; molecular sieving
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MDPI and ACS Style

Tong, Y.; Hu, K.; Yang, Q.; Liu, H.; Yuan, D.; Wang, J.; Lv, M.; Wang, H.; Tian, Z.; Xu, Y.; et al. The Molecular Sieving of Propylene and Propane on SAPO-35 Molecular Sieve. Nanomaterials 2025, 15, 1820. https://doi.org/10.3390/nano15231820

AMA Style

Tong Y, Hu K, Yang Q, Liu H, Yuan D, Wang J, Lv M, Wang H, Tian Z, Xu Y, et al. The Molecular Sieving of Propylene and Propane on SAPO-35 Molecular Sieve. Nanomaterials. 2025; 15(23):1820. https://doi.org/10.3390/nano15231820

Chicago/Turabian Style

Tong, Yansi, Kadi Hu, Qihao Yang, Hao Liu, Danhua Yuan, Jungang Wang, Mengting Lv, Hailong Wang, Ziqi Tian, Yunpeng Xu, and et al. 2025. "The Molecular Sieving of Propylene and Propane on SAPO-35 Molecular Sieve" Nanomaterials 15, no. 23: 1820. https://doi.org/10.3390/nano15231820

APA Style

Tong, Y., Hu, K., Yang, Q., Liu, H., Yuan, D., Wang, J., Lv, M., Wang, H., Tian, Z., Xu, Y., & Chen, L. (2025). The Molecular Sieving of Propylene and Propane on SAPO-35 Molecular Sieve. Nanomaterials, 15(23), 1820. https://doi.org/10.3390/nano15231820

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