TY - JOUR
T1 - High-performance MFI zeolite hollow fiber membranes synthesized by double-layer seeding with variable temperature secondary growth
AU - Mirfendereski, Seyed Mojtaba
AU - Lin, Jerry Y.S.
N1 - Funding Information:
We are grateful to Professors Allan K.L. Tung and Jeffery C.H. Chen of National Taiwan University for providing the alumina hollow fiber supports for this work. JL acknowledges the Department of Energy and National Science Foundation for the support on zeolite membrane research.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2021/1/15
Y1 - 2021/1/15
N2 - Hydrophobic MFI zeolite membranes are perm-selective to organic compounds over water and offer applications for organic/water separations. However, reproducible synthesis of MFI zeolite membranes with high organic selectivity remains a challenge. This paper reports a new synthesis method consisting of dual-layer seeding and varying-temperature secondary growth for the synthesis of hydrophobic MFI zeolite membranes on alumina hollow fiber supports. The effects of seeding method, seed particle size, seed size ratio, and variable temperature/time profile on the microstructure, hydrophobicity and gas perm-selectivity of the membranes are investigated leading to the identification of optimum seed structure and secondary growth conditions for synthesis of MFI zeolite membranes with high ethanol/water separation performance. The high-performance MFI zeolite membrane has a microstructure consisting of a thin, fully inter-grown, and dense top zeolite layer responsible for high selectivity, and a porous low inter-grown bottom zeolite layer minimizing resistance and retarding aluminum transfer from the support to zeolite. The best hollow fiber supported MFI zeolite membrane with a Si/Al ratio of 187 exhibits ethanol/water pervaporation separation factor of 160 with a total flux of 3 kg m−2 h−1.
AB - Hydrophobic MFI zeolite membranes are perm-selective to organic compounds over water and offer applications for organic/water separations. However, reproducible synthesis of MFI zeolite membranes with high organic selectivity remains a challenge. This paper reports a new synthesis method consisting of dual-layer seeding and varying-temperature secondary growth for the synthesis of hydrophobic MFI zeolite membranes on alumina hollow fiber supports. The effects of seeding method, seed particle size, seed size ratio, and variable temperature/time profile on the microstructure, hydrophobicity and gas perm-selectivity of the membranes are investigated leading to the identification of optimum seed structure and secondary growth conditions for synthesis of MFI zeolite membranes with high ethanol/water separation performance. The high-performance MFI zeolite membrane has a microstructure consisting of a thin, fully inter-grown, and dense top zeolite layer responsible for high selectivity, and a porous low inter-grown bottom zeolite layer minimizing resistance and retarding aluminum transfer from the support to zeolite. The best hollow fiber supported MFI zeolite membrane with a Si/Al ratio of 187 exhibits ethanol/water pervaporation separation factor of 160 with a total flux of 3 kg m−2 h−1.
KW - Dual-layer seeding
KW - Hollow fiber
KW - Varying-temperature
KW - Zeolite membrane
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U2 - 10.1016/j.memsci.2020.118573
DO - 10.1016/j.memsci.2020.118573
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85090698786
SN - 0376-7388
VL - 618
JO - Journal of Membrane Science
JF - Journal of Membrane Science
M1 - 118573
ER -