Preparation of chabazite zeolite membranes by a two-stage varying-temperature hydrothermal synthesis for water-ethanol separation

Improved Esterification of Citric Acid and n-Butanol Using a Dense and Acid-Resistant Beta Zeolite Membrane

In this work, a dense and acid-resistant beta zeolite membrane was applied to improve the esterification of citric acid and n-butanol, for the first time. Through the continuous removal of the by-product water via pervaporation (PV), the conversion of citric acid was significantly enhanced from 71.7% to 99.2% using p-Toluenesulfonic acid (PTSA) as catalyst. PTSA was a well-known strong acid, and the membrane kept almost no change after PV-esterification, indicating the superior acid resistance of beta zeolite membrane. Compared to the use of acid-resistant MOR zeolite membrane by PV-esterification, a consistently higher conversion of citric acid was obtained using a high-flux beta zeolite membrane. The results showed that high water permeation on the beta zeolite membrane, with good acid resistance, had a strong promoting effect on esterification, leading to an improved conversion. In addition, the citric acid conversion of 97.7% could still be achieved by PV-esterification at a low reaction temperature of 388 K.

Preparation of Alumina-Sphere-Supported Potassium Chabazite Zeolite Membrane with Excellent Potassium Extraction Performance at Room Temperature

In this paper, a potassium chabazite (KCHA) zeolite membrane was prepared by coating KCHA zeolite on the surface of a porous alumina sphere. The performance of the KCHA zeolite membrane in extracting potassium from seawater and sea bittern at room temperature was studied in detail. The XRD results show that the prepared KCHA zeolite was a KCHA membrane. The EDS test indicated that the potassium content of the KCHA zeolite membrane reached a value of 18.33 wt.%. The morphology of the KCHA zeolite grown on the surface of the alumina sphere was similar to a sphere, and it had good symmetry. The potassium ion-exchange capacities of the KCHA zeolite membrane reached 32 mg/g in seawater and 77 mg/g in sea bittern at room temperature. Ion exchange between the ammonium ions and potassium ions in the KCHA zeolite membrane could be completed in a short time at room temperature. The KCHA zeolite membrane was proven to have good reusability in seawater and sea bittern. The selective ion-exchange mechanism of the KCHA zeolite membrane was controlled by a specific K⁺ ion memory.

Ethanol dehydration performance of three types of commercial-grade zeolite permselective membranes

BACKGROUND

Many organic solvents form difficult-to-separate mixtures with water and have an affinity for water, making drying a potential reuse prerequisite. Pervaporation (PV) and vapor permeation (VP) membrane technologies hold promise for energy-efficient solvent drying. Several water-selective membrane materials are commercially available, but performance data is limited, particularly for two recently commercialized membrane materials: chabazite (CHA) and T-type zeolites. In this work, commercial-grade samples of CHA and T-type membranes, along with a NaA zeolite membrane, were evaluated for the removal of water from ethanol.

RESULTS

The CHA sample had the highest initial PV water permeance (6820 GPU) and water permselectivity (3430) with 5 wt% water in ethanol at 50 °C. Initial NaA membrane performance was slightly lower (6060 GPU and 3260), while the T-type membrane had the lowest initial permeance and selectivity (4260 GPU and 1090). Performance declined over time, most notably for the NaA membrane, for which water permeance fell over 50% through 39 days of testing. The T-type membrane exhibited the steadiest PV water permeance, but the most variable ethanol permeance.

CONCLUSION

The PV performance of the three membranes largely overlapped the predicted range for T-type membranes. That performance generally exceeds the anticipated ethanol drying performance of non-zeolitic PV membranes but is less than that predicted for NaA and CHA membranes. The present CHA membrane results, along with other recent reports, refine earlier predictions of the ethanol dehydration performance of that type of zeolite. The changing performance with time should be understood to properly design a solvent dehydration system.

Prevention in Thermal Crack Formation in Chabazite (CHA) Zeolite Membrane by Developing Thin Top Zeolite and Thick Intermediate Layers

Chabazite (CHA) zeolite membranes with an intermediate layer of various thicknesses were prepared using planetary-milled seeds with an average particle diameter of 300, 250, 200, 140, and 120 nm. The 120 nm seed sample also contained several smaller particles with a diameter of 20 nm. Such small seeds deeply penetrated into the pore channels of the α-alumina support during the vacuum-assisted infiltration process. During the secondary growth, the penetrated seeds formed a thick intermediate layer exiting between the zeolite layer and support. A decrease in seed size increased the penetration depth of seeds and the thickness of the intermediate layer, while the thickness of seed coating and zeolite layers was decreased. CHA zeolite membranes with a thin top zeoliate layer and a thick intermediate layer showed an excellent water/ethanol separation factor (>10,000) for 90 wt.% ethanol at 70 ℃ with a total flux of 1.5 kg m⁻² h⁻¹. There was no observation of thermal cracks/defects on the zeolite separation layer. The thick intermediate layer effectively suppressed the formation of thermal cracks during heating, since the tensile stress induced in the zeolite layer was well compensated by the compressive stress on the support. Therefore, it was successfully proven that controlling the microstructure of top surface and intermediate layers is an effective approach to improve the thermal stability of the CHA zeolite membrane.

Pervaporation Zeolite-Based Composite Membranes for Solvent Separations

Thanks to their well-defined molecular sieving and stability, zeolites have been proposed in selective membrane separations, such as gas separation and pervaporation. For instance, the incorporation of zeolites into polymer phases to generate composite (or mixed matrix) membranes revealed important advances in pervaporation. Therefore, the goal of this review is to compile and elucidate the latest advances (over the last 2-3 years) of zeolite applications in pervaporation membranes either combining zeolites or polymers. Here, particular emphasis has been focused on relevant insights and findings in using zeolites in pervaporative azeotropic separations and specific aided applications, together with novel concepts of membranes. A brief background of the pervaporation process is also given. According to the findings of this review, we provide future perspectives and recommendations for new researchers in the field.