Carbon dioxide removal from synthesis gas using MFI membranes

Membrane processes may represent a more effective alternative compared to current technology for separation of CO2 from synthesis gas. In the present work, MFI membranes were prepared and the separation performance was evaluated. The Si/Al ratio and the counter ions in the membrane had a significant effect on both single gas permeation and mixture separation by modifying both the effective pore size and the adsorption properties of the membranes. The membranes were relatively unselective for binary mixtures of carbon dioxide and hydrogen, but when the feed also contained water, a CO2/H2 separation factor of 6.2 was achieved for a BaZSM-5 membrane at room temperature. The CO2 permeance for this membrane was as high as 13 × 10−7 mol m−2 s−1 Pa−1. A suitable terminology for this effect, that a third component, in this case water, enhanced the separation of two other components, in this case CO2 and H2, is sorption enhanced separation. Due to the reduced adsorption of both CO2 and water at higher temperature, the CO2/H2 separation factor was always reduced as the temperature was increased. This work clearly shows that MFI membranes are promising candidates for CO2 separation from synthesis gas.