Fast synthesis of thin high silica SSZ-13 zeolite membrane using oil-bath heating. (30th August 2019) - Tang, Hongbo
Abstract: Traditionally, zeolite membranes were prepared using oven heating which usually resulted in lengthy synthesis time and thick membrane. Previous result indicated that oil-bath heating can significantly reduce the synthesis time and membrane thickness of SAPO-34 membrane due to the elimination of thermal-lag. SSZ-13 membrane was prepared using oil-bath heating method. Significant reduction on synthesis time (from 2 to 6 d to 2 h) and membrane thickness (from 5 to 10 μm–1.5 μm) were realized, which is the result of enhanced nucleation and crystallization from ultrafast heat transfer of oil-bath heating. Template removal was realized with an optimized rapid thermal processing method (O-RTP). Outstanding CO2 -CH4 separation performance was obtained. The high permeance mainly comes from the thinner membrane. The high selectivity can be attributed to O-RTP, which strengthened the bonding between zeolite crystals and minimized thermal exposure time. The combination of oil-bath heating and O-RTP led to high performance SSZ-13 membrane. Highlights: Oil-bath heating led to much reduced synthesis time and membrane thickness. Optimized rapid thermal processing reduced the formation of defects and facilitated template removal. Highest CO2 permeance and decent CO2 -CH4 selectivity achieved. Combination of oil-bath heating and rapid thermal processing led to fast synthesis of high performance CHA membrane.