Nanocrystalline Zeolite Tetraethylammonium-Beta Membrane for Preferential Sorption and Transport of CO2 over N2

Abstract

CO2/N2 gas separation was performed over a nanocrystalline zeolite tetraethylammonium (TEA)-beta membrane prepared on a stainless-steel porous disc by repeated hydrothermal crystallization. Two to three consecutive hydrothermal syntheses were required to form a membrane comprised of a continuous and compact layer of zeolite beta nanocrystals on the support. The membrane TEA-BEA3 obtained by three consecutive syntheses, in which the membrane from two consecutive syntheses was used as support, exhibited the highest structural order. When the separation experiment was performed over this membrane without applying any external applied pressure, 100% selectivity of CO2 over N2 was observed. The separation was driven by differences in chemical potentials of the molecules generated only by the adsorption-desorption behavior of the gases into the membrane. The novel zeolite TEA-beta membrane provided promising results for the separation of small gas molecules due to the combined influence of diffusion and sorption selectivity. © 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.