Dr. Hae-Kwon Jeong, associate professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University, and his team’s research was spotlighted in the October issue of the Journal of the American Chemical Society.
Jeong’s article, “Heteroepitaxially-grown Zeolitic Imidazolate Framework Membranes with Unprecedented Propylene/Propane Separation Performances,” discussed the team’s focus on high-quality nanoporous molecular sieve membranes that distinguish molecules based on the size difference between propylene and propane. The membranes exhibited unprecedented propylene/propane separation performances, which can potentially lead to the significant savings in energy.
“Light olefins such as ethylene and propylene are the most highly demanded and consumed chemical feedstocks due to the fact that these olefins are starting materials for many consumer products,” Jeong said. “However, once formed, for example, propylene must be separated from propane, which is one of the most energy-intensive separations due to their close physical/chemical properties.”