Oxygen adsorption/desorption behavior of YBaCo4O7+δ and its application to oxygen removal from nitrogen

A new medium-temperature (200–400 °C) adsorbent material for oxygen removal and air separation, YBaCo4O7+δ, was prepared by the solid-state reaction method. This new adsorbent could adsorb a large quantity of oxygen in the temperature range of 200–370 °C. Adsorbed oxygen could be released by raising temperature over 400 °C or by switching the atmosphere from oxygen to nitrogen. This oxygen adsorption and desorption process had good reproducibility. Taking advantage of this unique oxygen intake/release behavior, a nitrogen purification process was investigated. The results showed that YBaCo4O7+δ material was a promising candidate for the oxygen sorption process and could be used to produce high-purity nitrogen or to remove trace oxygen from other gases.