The influence of nanoseeds on the pervaporation performance of MFI-type zeolite membranes on hollow fibers

• Effects of gel in nanoseeds on formation of MFI zeolite membranes.
• Effects of gel in nanoseeds on pervaporation of MFI zeolite membranes.
• Effects of ball-milled nanoseeds on pervaporation of MFI zeolite membranes.
• High performance MFI membranes were obtained using ball-milled nanoseeds.

Thin MFI-type zeolite membranes are prepared on α-Al2O3 hollow fibers by secondary growth. Nanoseeds with different gel amounts have been prepared and the influences of silicalite-1 nanoseeds on membrane formation and separation performance of the membrane are investigated. Both the as-synthesized zeolite seeds and membranes are characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), dynamic light scattering (DLS) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with energy dispersive X-ray (EDX). The separation properties of as-synthesized membranes are evaluated by pervaporation of 5 wt% ethanol aqueous solution at 60 °C. It is found that the gel amount in the nanoseeds is critical in obtaining continuous membranes with high separation performance. Membranes prepared via nanoseeds from ball-milled crystals show higher hydrophobicity and denser microstructure, and thus exhibit higher pervaporation performance than those prepared from as-synthesized nanoseeds.

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