Ultrafast synthesis of thin SAPO-34 zeolite membrane by oil-bath heating

The lengthy synthesis time is a major contributor to zeolite membrane's overall cost, which limits its commercial applications. Ultrafast synthesis of SAPO-34 zeolite membrane was realized by oil-bath heating. The synthesis time was significantly shortened from 5 similar to 8 h to 1 h and membrane thickness was reduced from 3 similar to 5 mu m to 0.8 mu m. This is by far the fastest synthesis method and the thinnest SAPO-34 membrane available. Oil-bath heating eliminated the thermal-lag associated with regular oven heating, which led to enhanced nucleation and crystallization. The obtained SAPO-34 membranes exhibited superior high pressure CO2-CH4 separation performance. The oil-bath heating method might serve as a cheap alternative for the expensive microwave system, which inherits all benefits of microwave heating without adding extra cost. This method might be used for the synthesis of other types of zeolite membranes for different separation applications. (C) 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.