Modified Gas-Translation Model for Prediction of Gas Permeation Through Microporous Organosilica Membranes

A modified gas-translation (GT) model was applied for the theoretical analysis of gas permeation through microporous organosilica membranes derived from bis(triethoxysilyl)ethane (BTESE) via a sol-gel method using different water/alkoxide molar ratios. The pore sizes of BTESE-derived membranes were quantitatively determined by normalized Knudsen-based permeance analysis, which was based on a modified-GT model, using experimentally obtained permeances of He, H-2, N-2, C3H8, and SF6. The pore sizes of BTESE-derived membranes were successfully controlled from 0.65 to 0.46 nm by increasing the H2O/BTESE ratio from 6 to 240. Furthermore, theoretical correlations of all possible pairs of permeance ratios were calculated based on the modified-GT model. The experimental data were in good agreement with the theoretical correlation curves, indicating that the modified-GT model can clearly explain gas permeation mechanisms through microporous membranes, and, thus, can be used to predict the gas permeation properties for these membranes. (c) 2014 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J 60: 4199-4210, 2014