Separation of alcohol/water mixtures by ZSM-5 bulk bodies prepared with a one-pot hydrothermal method

• The ZSM-5 bulk bodies were successfully prepared by a one-pot hydrothermal method.
• The resulting porous ZSM-5 bulk bodies exhibit acceptable machinability.
• The bulk bodies can efficiently separate alcohol/water mixtures by vapor permeation.
• The affinities of ZSM-5 for alcohols and water affect the separation performance.
• The bulk bodies are available for the innovative energy-efficient separation.

The present work demonstrates a novel separation technique by ZSM-5 zeolite bulk bodies, which were successfully prepared with a one-pot hydrothermal method at 200 °C for 5 d, using the raw materials that are used in the synthesis of ZSM-5 powders. It is found that these materials can efficiently concentrate a 5 mass% ethanol/water mixture by vapor permeation at approximately 5 kPa to produce a permeate of approximately 76 mass% at an extremely large flux of about 35 kg·(m2 h)−1, even though they are porous. The permeate flux is unchanged for a long time. These bulk bodies show promise as materials for the innovative energy-efficient separation of ethanol/water, especially compared with the membranes previously used for such separations. Furthermore, they can efficiently concentrate 5 mass% methanol/water and 2-propanol/water mixtures.

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