Formation of high flux CHA-type zeolite membranes and their application to the dehydration of alcohol solutions

CHA-type zeolite membranes have excellent dehydration performance and acid stability. However, the permeation flux of the membrane is still lower than that of commercially available NaA-type zeolite membranes. In this paper, the influences of the crystal growth conditions and the support properties on the dehydration performance were determined in order to prepare high flux CHA-type zeolite membranes. As a result, the permeation flux increased to 14.0 kg m−2 h−1 for a 90 wt% ethanol solution at 348 K (separation factor > 10,000). The membrane was also used to dehydrate methanol and 2-propanol. The results suggest that the CHA-type zeolite membranes are effective for the separation of water from organic solvents.