The Research into N2O–CO2 Separation on Na/Ag–Y Zeolite

N2O/CO2 separation in the tail gas of adipic acid presents a significant challenge due to the closely resembling physical characteristics exhibited by CO2 and N2O. Herein, adsorption and separation performances of CO2 and N2O on FAU-type zeolite Y with different cations (Na+ and Ag+) were studied comprehensively. After Ag+ exchange, zeolite Y changes from a CO2-selective adsorbent to a N2O-selective adsorbent. AgY shows high N2O uptake (95.7 cm3/g) but relatively low adsorption heat (23.1 kJ/mol), making it suitable for N2O/CO2 separation. In situ Fourier transform infrared spectrometry indicates that N2O is successfully adsorbed on AgY. The breakthrough experiment reveals that AgY exhibits superior performance in the separation of N2O/CO2 at a flow rate of 20 mL/min while also exhibiting a favorable retention time and ratio of retention time with CO2 breakthrough time, which can reach up to 4.1 min and 0.24, respectively, which makes it an optimum N2O/CO2 separation material reported so far.