Permeation and separation characteristics of MFI type zeolite membranes on zirconia intermediate layer by template-free secondary growth method

MFI type zeolite membranes were synthesized on two types of supporting materials, i.e., alumina and yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) coated alumina. MFI type zeolite membranes without YSZ intermediate layer showed relatively large H₂ and He permeance. After repeated secondary growth, the temperature dependency of H₂, He, and CO showed little change but the behavior of CO₂ was dramatically different. YSZ intermediate layer was quite effective in preventing the aluminum diffusion from alumina support to zeolite layer at high temperatures. A MFI type zeolite membrane with YSZ intermediate layer showed high stability in steam at high temperature. This is an abstract of a paper presented at the 2006 AIChE Annual Meeting (San Francisco, CA 11/12-17/2006).