Synthesis Optimization of SSZ-13 Zeolite Membranes by Dual Templates for N2/NO2 Separation

High-silica SSZ-13 zeolite membranes are promising in industrial separations of light gases and continuous membranes are highly demanded for better separation performances. Herein, pure-phase, continuous and thin SSZ-13 zeolite membranes were synthesized using dual templates of N,N,N-trimethtyl-1-adamantammonium hydroxide(TMAdaOH) and tetraethylammonium hydroxide(TEAOH). Systematical investigations of TMAdaOH/TEAOH ratios and their concentrations show that TMAdaOH acts as the main structure-directing agent in the formation of the SSZ-13 zeolite. TMAdaOH cooperatively plays with TEAOH in promoting the SSZ-13 crystal intergrowth to form a continuous polycrystalline membrane. Additionally, appropriate introduction of TEAOH is able to adjust the membrane thickness to the crystal-comparable size of ca. 2.0 µm. The SSZ-13 membranes are further applied for N2/NO2 separation, which is firstly reported on zeolite membranes. The gas permeation results show that the SSZ-13 membrane synthesized by the dual-template approach exhibits selective separation of N2 over NO2 with N2/NO2 separation factor of 7.6 and N2 permeance of 1.66×10−8 mol·m−2·s−1·Pa−1.