Synthesis and performance of B-ZSM-5 zeolite membranes for the separation of volatile organic from water in pervaporation process

Abstract

ZSM-5 zeolite membrane on porous α-alumina support was prepared by hydrothermal method with B isomorphously substituted into their structure for separating acetone from water by pervaporation. The effects of feed temperature, concentration, flow rate, and permeate pressure on the membrane performance were investigated. The permeate flux increased with the increasing feed concentration, temperature, and flow rate and decreasing permeate pressure. In addition, the results of permeate pressure show that the separation factor is improved with the increasing permeate pressure dramatically. Moreover, this results show an unlike behavior compared to results reported for organics with low volatility. So, it can be concluded that the behavior of pervaporation process is deeply dependent on the volatility of organics when the permeate pressure change.

Keywords:

• Pervaporation
• Zeolite membrane
• Separation factor
• Volatility
• Acetone

Acknowledgments

The Authors wish to thank Sahand University of Technology (SUT) for the financial support of this work. Also, thank co-workers and technical staff in the department of chemical engineering and nanostructure materials research center (NMRC) of SUT for their help during various stages of this work.