Polymer‐grade ethylene production via <scp>VPSA</scp> simulation with a scalable and shaped ultra‐microporous adsorbent

Abstract Energy‐efficient pressure swing adsorption (PSA), a technology boosted by extensive research on emerging adsorbents, is a potential alternative to ethylene purification. We investigated, for the first time, the scale‐up synthesis, shaping, and high‐pressure ethylene‐adsorption performance of an ultra‐microporous adsorbent, CPL‐1‐NH 2 , with an S‐type isotherm for ethylene. Based on the static adsorption data and kilogram‐scale breakthrough experiments on the shaped CPL‐1‐NH 2 , vacuum PSA (VPSA) simulation processes were designed to purify ethylene from a C 2 H 4 /C 2 H 6 mixture. Critical variables were investigated and analyzed systematically to increase the purity and recovery of the ethylene product. After parameter optimization, high ethylene purity (99.91%), excellent ethylene recovery (74%), and productivity (1.8 mol kg −1 h −1 ) were achieved in the 80/20 (C 2 H 4 /C 2 H 6 , v/v) VPSA simulation. This study reveals that porous materials with flexible isotherms and rapid regeneration ability are desirable for PSA from an engineering perspective.