In Situ Synthesis of Cation-Free Zirconia-Supported Zeolite CHA Membranes for Efficient CO2/CH4 Separation

Nana Wang; Guiliu Dang; Zhenwei Bai; Qing Wang; Bo Liu; Rongfei Zhou; Weihong Xing

doi:10.1021/acsami.2c21682

In Situ Synthesis of Cation-Free Zirconia-Supported Zeolite CHA Membranes for Efficient CO₂/CH₄ Separation

ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2023 Apr 5;15(13):16853-16864. doi: 10.1021/acsami.2c21682. Epub 2023 Mar 27.

Authors

Nana Wang¹, Guiliu Dang¹, Zhenwei Bai¹, Qing Wang², Bo Liu¹, Rongfei Zhou¹, Weihong Xing¹

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Materials-Oriented Chemical Engineering, College of Chemical Engineering, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing 210009, China.
² School of Energy, Materials and Chemical Engineering, Hefei University, Hefei 230601, China.

PMID: 36972317
DOI: 10.1021/acsami.2c21682

Abstract

Cation-free zirconosilicate zeolite CHA and thin zirconia-supported membranes were in situ synthesized in a fluoride-free gel for the first time. The usage of the ZrO₂/Al₂O₃ composite support inhibited the transportation of aluminum from the support into zeolite membranes. No fluorite source was used for the synthesis of cation-free zeolite CHA membranes, indicating the green property of the synthesis. The thickness of the membrane was only 1.0 μm. The best cation-free zeolite CHA membrane prepared by the green in situ synthesis displayed a high CO₂ permeance of 1.1 × 10^-6 mol/(m² s Pa) and CO₂/CH₄ selectivity of 79 at 298 K and 0.2 MPa pressure drop for an equimolar CO₂/CH₄ mixture.

Keywords: CO2 capture; Si-CHA; in situ synthesis; natural gas sweetening; zeolite membranes.