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Updated: Dec 8, 2025
Proof-of-Concept for Gas-Entrapping Membranes Derived from Water-Loving SiO2/Si/SiO2 Wafers for Green Desalination
Published on: March 1, 2020
Fabrication of a sandwiched silicalite-1 membrane in a 2D confined space for enhanced alcohol/water separation
Ruiwen Luo1, He Ding2, Jiafei Lyu1
1Dept. of Pharmaceutical Engineering, School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300350, P. R. China. guoxh@tju.edu.cn and Key Laboratory of Systems Bioengineering (Ministry of Education), Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072, P. R. China.
Abstract:
A dense zeolite layer with a thickness of approximately 500 nm was demonstrated by a confined-space strategy in a sandwiched mode of (SiO2)/(silicalite-1)/(SiO2). The gel-free secondary growth methodology bypasses the post-calcination step, avoiding excess energy consumption and possible film damage. Significantly enhanced pervaporation separation was observed with separation factors of 136 and 113, and fluxes of 2.3 and 2.2 kg m-2 h-1 for ethanol/n-butanol aqueous solutions, respectively. In addition, the membrane stability was confirmed by the 14 day pervaporation test.
