Hierarchical MFI Zeolite Membranes for Superior Xylene Separation

Menglei Liu, Yingying Ge, Jiahuan Du, Zhifei Song, Chun Zhang, Qiaoqiao Zhou, Yuting Zhang, Xuehong Gu

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

17 Scopus citations

Abstract

The separation of p-xylene from its xylene isomers (o-xylene, m-xylene) is a significant concern in the petrochemical industry. MFI zeolite membranes offer great potential for energy-efficient and high-selective xylene separation. Synthesizing ultrathin (< 1 µm) MFI zeolite membrane for high-flux separation is highly desired but remains challenging. Herein, a novel and facile strategy for synthesizing hierarchical MFI zeolite membranes on ceramic hollow fibers from multi-dimensionally assembled (2D@0D) seed layers is demonstrated. Owing to the rapid growth of 0D MFI seeds and the voids-preserved growth of stacked 2D MFI seeds, the hierarchical MFI membrane synthesized for 2 h yielded an ultrathin skin layer (≈255 nm thick) and many macro-voids within the sublayer (void fraction: 14.86%), which facilitated molecular permeation and simultaneously maintained high separation selectivity of zeolitic pores. The membrane exhibited over sevenfold higher p-xylene permeance (2.81 × 10−7 mol m−2 s−1 Pa−1) and over threefold improved p-/o-xylene separation factor (1228) than the conventional MFI membrane.

Original languageEnglish
Article number2400772
JournalAdvanced Functional Materials
Volume34
Issue number34
DOIs
StatePublished - 22 Aug 2024

Keywords

  • MFI zeolite membrane
  • hierarchical structure
  • hollow fiber
  • ultrathin membrane

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