Synthesis and pervaporation performance of high-reproducibility silicalite-1 membranes

High-reproducibility silicalite-1 membranes were synthesized on silica tubes by in-situ hydrothermal synthesis, and the relative standard deviation (R.S.D.) of average separation factor for eight membranes was only 7.5%. By using an effective method called "solution-filling (SF)", the average flux of membranes prepared with SF method was improved by about 49% compared to membranes prepared without SF method, and the highest flux of membrane prepared with SF method towards ethanol/H(2)O mixture at 80 degrees C was 1.49 kg/(m(2)center dot h). Pervaporation experiments showed that the fluxes of silicalite-1 membranes at 60 degrees C were 2.63, 0.87, 0.24, and 0.20 kg/(m(2)center dot h) towards methanol/H(2)O, ethanol/H(2)O, 2-propanol/H(2)O, and 1-propanol/H(2)O mixtures, respectively, and the corresponding separation factors were 22, 69, 81, and 159, respectively