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The flexibility of the zeolite Rho framework offers great potential for tunable molecular sieving. The fully copper‐exchanged form of Rho and mixed Cu,H‐ and Cu,Na‐forms have been prepared. EPR spectroscopy reveals that Cu2+ ions are present in the dehydrated forms and Rietveld refinement shows these prefer S6R sites, away from the d8r windows that control diffusion. Fully exchanged Cu‐Rho remains in an open form upon dehydration, the d8r windows remain nearly circular and the occupancy of window sites is low, so that it adsorbs CO2 rapidly at room temperature. Breakthrough tests with 10 % CO2/40 % CH4 mixtures show that Cu4.9‐Rho is able to produce pure methane, albeit with a relatively low capacity at this pCO2 due to the weak interaction of CO2 with Cu cations. This is in strong contrast to Na‐Rho, where cations in narrow elliptical window sites enable CO2 to be adsorbed with high selectivity and uptake but too slowly to enable the production of pure methane in similar breakthrough experiments. A series of Cu,Na‐Rho materials was prepared to improve uptake and selectivity compared to Cu‐Rho, and kinetics compared to Na‐Rho. Remarkably, Cu,Na‐Rho with >2 Cu cations per unit cell exhibited exsolution, due to the preference of Na cations for narrow S8R sites in distorted Rho and of Cu cations for S6R sites in the centric, open form of Rho. The exsolved Cu,Na‐Rho showed improved performance in CO2/CH4 breakthrough tests, producing pure CH4 with improved uptake and CO2/CH4 selectivity compared to that of Cu4.9‐Rho. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adsorption of CO2andCH4has been measuredon the Na-, K-, and Cs-forms of zeolite Rho (0–9 bar; 283–333K). Although CH4is excluded, CO2is readilytaken up, although the uptake at low pressures decreases strongly,in the order Na+> K+> Cs+. Structuralstudies by powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) suggest that cations inintercage window sites block CH4adsorption; however, inthe presence of CO2, the cations can move enough to permitadsorption (several angstroms). Determination of time-averaged cationpositions during CO2adsorption at 298 K by Rietveld refinementagainst PXRD data shows that (i) in Na-Rho, there is a small relaxationof Na+cations within single eight-ring (S8R) sites, (ii)in Cs-Rho, D8R cations move to S8R sites (remaining within windows)and two phases of Cs-Rho (I4̅3m, Im3̅m) are present overa wide pressure range, and (iii) in K-Rho, there is relocation ofsome K+cations from window sites to cage sites and twophases coexist, each with I4̅3msymmetry, over the pressure range of 0–1 bar. The final cationdistributions at high PCO2aresimilar for Na-, K-, and Cs-Rho, and adsorption in each case is onlypossible by “trapdoor”-type cation gating. Complementarystudies on K-chabazite (Si/Al = 3) also show changes in time-averagedcation location during CO2adsorption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A series of univalent cation forms of zeolite Rho (M9.8Al9.8Si38.2O96, M = H, Li, Na, K, NH4, Cs) and ultrastabilized zeolite Rho (US-Rho) have been prepared. Their CO2 adsorption behavior has been measured at 298 K and up to 1 bar and related to the structures of the dehydrated forms determined by Rietveld refinement and, for H-Rho and US-Rho, by solid state NMR. Additionally, CO2 adsorption properties of the H-form of the silicoalumino-phosphate with the RHO topology and univalent cation forms of the zeolite ZK-5 were measured for comparison. The highest uptakes at 0.1 bar, 298 K for both Rho and ZK-5 were obtained on the Li-forms (Li-Rho, 3.4 mmol g-1; Li-ZK-5, 4.7 mmol g-1). H- and US-Rho had relatively low uptakes under these conditions: extra-framework Al species do not interact strongly with CO2. Forms of zeolite Rho in which cations occupy window sites between α-cages show hysteresis in their CO2 isotherms, the magnitude of which (Na+,NH4+ < K+ < Cs+) correlates with the tendency for cations to occupy double eight-membered ring sites rather than single eight-membered ring sites. Hysteresis is not observed for zeolites where cations do not occupy the intercage windows. In situ synchrotron X-ray diffraction of the CO2 adsorption on Na-Rho at 298 K identifies the adsorption sites. The framework structure of Na-Rho "breathes" as CO2 is adsorbed and desorbed and its desorption kinetics from Na-Rho at 308 K have been quantified by the Zero Length Column chromatographic technique. Na-Rho shows much higher CO2/C2H6 selectivity than Na-ZK-5, as determined by single component adsorption, indicating that whereas CO2 can diffuse readily through windows containing Na+ cations, ethane cannot. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]