The development of nanoporous membranes for separation of carbon dioxide at high temperatures

Initial observations from permeation experiments are reported for a class of novel membranes which display potential in the area of high temperature (∼900 K) gas separations. The existence of these membranes was first postulated from theoretical studies on transport of gases through ultra-thin (∼5–25 nm), nanoporous silica. The experimental results presented here confirm these observations, as demonstrated by membranes produced with kinetic selectivities for carbon dioxide/nitrogen greater than 75:1 at 873 K.