The influence of the calcination rate on silicalite-1 membranes

Silicalite-1 films with a thickness of 500 nm on asymmetric α-alumina micro filtration filters were calcined at 500 °C with heating and cooling rates varying between 0.2 °C/min and 5.0 °C/min. The membranes were characterized with single gas permeation, porosimetry, and xylene isomer separation experiments. It was found that the quality of the prepared membranes was independent of the heating/cooling rate according to the single gas permeation and porosimetry characterization. Xylene isomer separation data was found to vary between the samples, but none of the variations could be attributed to the heating/cooling rate during calcination since the variations did not follow a trend but occurred randomly. It is thus concluded that the calcination rate does not influence the quality of these membranes.