AUniformly Oriented MFI Membrane for Improved CO2 Separation

Membrane separation of CO2 from natural gas, biogas, synthesis gas, and flu gas is a simple and energy-efficient alternative to other separation techniques. But results for CO2-selective permeance have always been achieved by randomly oriented and thick zeolite membranes. Thin, oriented membranes have great potential to realize high-flux and high-selectivity separation of mixtures at low energy cost. We now report a facile method for preparing silica MFI membranes in fluoride media on a graded alumina support. In the resulting membrane straight channels are uniformly vertically aligned and the membrane has a thickness of 0.5m. The membrane showed a separation selectivity of 109 for CO2/H-2 mixtures and a CO2 permeance of 51x10(-7)molm(-2)s(-1)Pa(-1) at -35 degrees C, making it promising for practical CO2 separation from mixtures.