Direct separation of high purity ethylene (C

2

H

4

) from an ethane (C

2

H

6

)/ethylene mixture is a critical and challenging task owing to the very similar molecular size and physical properties of the two components. While some studies have attempted this separation

there is a lack of excellent porous materials with strong binding affinity for C

2

H

6

-selective adsorption

via

an energy-efficient adsorptive separation process. Herein

we report a titanium metal-organic framework with strong binding affinity and excellent stability for the highly efficient removal of C

2

H

6

from C

2

H

6

/C

2

H

4

mixtures. Single component adsorption isotherms demonstrated a larger amount of adsorbed ethane (1.16 mmol·g

-1

under 1 kPa) and high C

2

H

6

/C

2

H

4

selectivity (2.7) for equimolar C

2

H

6

/C

2

H

4

mixtures

especially in the low-pressure range

which is further confirmed by the results of grand canonical Monte Carlo simulations for C

2

H

6

adsorption in this framework. The experimental breakthrough curves showed that C

2

H

4

with a high purity was collected directly from both 1:9 and 1:15 C

2

H

6

/C

2

H

4

(volume ratio) mixtures at 298 K and 100 kPa. Moreover

the unchanged adsorption and separation performance after cycling experiments confirmed the promising applicability of this material in future.