Rapid Synthesis of Sapo-34 Zeolite Membrane Using Microwave Heating for CO2/N2binary Gas Separation

Microwave (MW) heating was successfully applied to synthesize SAPO-34 zeolite membranes from a colloidal solution containing tetraethylammonium hydroxide, silica source, phosphorus source and aluminium source. The presence of SAPO-34 phase was detected using X-ray diffraction (XRD) while the morphology and thickness of the SAPO-34 membranes were investigated by scanning electron microscope (SEM). The synthesized SAPO-34 membrane was studied for its single gas permeance of carbon dioxide (CO2) and nitrogen (N2). Gas separation of CO2/N2 binary gas mixture was performed on the SAPO-34 membrane over different temperature and feed pressure. Thin SAPO-34 membrane was formed at 473 K for synthesis time of 2 hours using microwave heating. The membrane exhibited the presence of SAPO-34 zeolite crystals with uniform size (< 1 m). MW heating is a highly potential method for rapid synthesis of zeolite membrane. Its instantaneous and volumetric heating resulted in formation of zeolite membrane consisting of zeolite crystals with narrower size distribution.