High-Performance Zeolitic Hollow-Fiber Membranes by a Viscosity-Confined Dry Gel Conversion Process for Gas Separation.

Zeolite membranes show great potential for gas and hydrocarbon separations, but high manufacturing cost has been one of the main hurdles in their industrial application. Here we demonstrate a method termed viscosity-confined dry gel conversion (VCDGC) for zeolite hollow fiber membrane fabrication. We demonstrate in detail the VCDGC synthesis of small-pore CHA zeolite membranes. Extensive permeation measurements reveal that dry gel-processed CHA zeolite hollow fiber membranes have excellent gas and hydrocarbon separation characteristics well exceeding or comparable to current membranes. Medium-pore MFI membranes are also fabricated, and their favorable hydrocarbon separation characteristics indicate the versatility and reliability of the VCDGC method.