Purification of CO Based on Selenium-Amine-CO Chemistry

Efficient separation of carbon monoxide from a binary mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen with selenium and secondary amines has been developed. The process consists of (i) selective reaction of CO with selenium and a secondary amine to form the corresponding ammonium carbamoselenoate 1 and (ii) thermolysis of 1 to form pure CO (99.9%) quantitatively. A Se–alcohol system is also usable but the results are inferior to that with a Se–amine system.