Preparation of silicalite-1 composite membranes

Abstract

Silicalite-1 crystal layers were synthesised on stainless steel and ceramic supports. The stainless steel supports manufactured by Trumem Int. (USA) and ceramic supports manufactured by Carborundum Electrite (Czech Republic) were chosen to prepare silicalite-1 composite membranes. In the case of stainless steel silicalite-1 composite membrane, the applied synthesis process has been recently developed by Gora et.al [1]. It was observed that the presence of silicalite-1 seeds influenced the membrane quality. A number of crystallization steps also played an important role. Ceramic silicalite-1 composite membranes were prepared on ceramic supports with the layers of randomly oriented silicalite-1 crystals. The disadvantage of the ceramic supports was their large pore size distribution and roughness of the surface. For this reason, several coating steps using ceramic glaze had to be used to reduce the pore size distribution and non-uniformity of the surface