Synthesis and Permeation Characteristics of Zeolite Membranes

Introduction : Membranes made from inorganic materials are generally superior to organo-polymeric materials in thermal and mechanical stability, and chemical resistance. Among inorganic materials zeolite is a promising candidate for a high performance membrane because of the unique characteristics of zeolite crystals such as molecular sieving, ion exchange, selective adsorption and catalysis. Although there are many recent reportsl on the preparation of zeolitc membranes and the gas permeation through the membranes, only a limited number of publications deal with pervaporation studies. Recently, we have reported a high pervaporation performance of NaA zeolite membrane for the separation of water/organic liquid mixtures. and of NaY zeolite menlbrane for the separation of methanol/MTBE. Here, preparation of zeolite (LTA, ZSM-5 and FAU) membranes and their permeation properties are discussed.