LTA Zeolite Membranes in Pervaporation

LTA Zeolite Membrane in Pervaporation. Pervaporation (PV) or vapor permeation (VP) is a membrane-based separation process which shows a high efficiency for the separation of azeotropes and close-boiling mixtures (Huang 1991). In general, zeolites with low Si/Al ratio can be adopted to produce hydrophilic pervaporative membranes for dewatering of organics, as exemplified by LTA, FAU, SOD, and T-type zeolites (Bowen et al. 2004). Among those, LTA zeolite membranes exhibit the highest water to alcohol selectivity up to present, owing to its lowest Si/Al ratio and proper pore size (0.4 nm) that can block organic solvent molecules bulkier than water. LTA zeolite membranes have been widely used for dewatering various organics, including alcohols, aldehydes, ketones, ethers, esters, amines, and amides. Typical performances of LTA membrane are listed in Table 1.

LTA Zeolite Membranes in Pervaporation, Table 1 Typical PV/VP performances of LTA zeolite membrane for dewatering organics