A superb water permeable membrane for potential applications in CO2 to liquid fuel process

In this paper, a superb water permeable membrane is prepared by treating an alumina hollow fiber supported metal-organic framework (MOF) membrane with a hydrophilic ionic liquid (IL). For ternary mixture of H 2 O/CO 2 /H 2 separation, the IL layer separates H 2 O and CO 2 from H 2 and the MOF layer functions as a selective layer for further separation of H 2 O/CO 2 . Furthermore, owing to the high hydrophilicity of the IL, water permeation is enhanced comparing to the pristine MOF membrane. At extremely harsh conditions with the temperature high up to 200 °C and the pressure high up to 20 bar, this IL/MOF membrane has achieved excellent water vapor/gases separation performance, with a high water permeance of 7.7*10 −8 mol m −2 s −1 Pa −1 and high separation factor for water vapor/gases (~472 for H 2 O/H 2 and ~280 for H 2 O/CO 2 ). Scheme 1. Schematic illustration of the separation mechanism of an IL treated MOF membrane. • The membrane could separate H 2 O from H 2 and CO 2 at high temperature and pressure. • Mechanism of IL/MOF membrane for water/gases separation is illustrated. • The membrane can withstand harsh conditions for CO 2 to liquid fuel process.