skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Krypton-xenon separation properties of SAPO-34 zeolite materials and membranes

Abstract

Separation of the radioisotope 85 Kr from 136 Xe is an important target during used nuclear fuel recycling. We report a detailed study on the Kr and Xe adsorption, diffusion, and membrane permeation properties of the silicoaluminophosphate zeolite SAPO‐34. Adsorption and diffusion measurements on SAPO‐34 crystals indicate their potential for use in Kr‐Xe separation membranes, but also highlight competing effects of adsorption and diffusion selectivity. SAPO‐34 membranes are synthesized on α−alumina disk and tubular substrates via steam assisted conversion seeding and hydrothermal growth, and are characterized in detail. Membrane transport measurements reveal that SAPO‐34 membranes can separate Kr from Xe by molecular sieving, with Kr permeabilities around 50 Barrer and mixture selectivity of 25–30 for Kr at ambient or slight sub‐ambient conditions. The membrane transport characteristics are modeled by the Maxwell‐Stefan equations, whose predictions are in very good agreement with experiment and confirm the minimal competing effects of adsorption and diffusion. © 2016 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J , 63: 761–769, 2017

Authors:
 [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [2]
  1. Georgia Inst. of Technology, Atlanta, GA (United States). School of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering
  2. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Materials Science & Technology Division
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE)
OSTI Identifier:
1356958
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1400772
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC05-00OR22725; NE0008298
Resource Type:
Journal Article: Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
AIChE Journal
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 63; Journal Issue: 2; Journal ID: ISSN 0001-1541
Publisher:
American Institute of Chemical Engineers
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE; 11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS; zeolite membranes; gas separation

Citation Formats

Hye Kwon, Yeon, Kiang, Christine, Benjamin, Emily, Crawford, Phillip, Nair, Sankar, and Bhave, Ramesh. Krypton-xenon separation properties of SAPO-34 zeolite materials and membranes. United States: N. p., 2016. Web. doi:10.1002/aic.15434.
Hye Kwon, Yeon, Kiang, Christine, Benjamin, Emily, Crawford, Phillip, Nair, Sankar, & Bhave, Ramesh. Krypton-xenon separation properties of SAPO-34 zeolite materials and membranes. United States. https://doi.org/10.1002/aic.15434
Hye Kwon, Yeon, Kiang, Christine, Benjamin, Emily, Crawford, Phillip, Nair, Sankar, and Bhave, Ramesh. 2016. "Krypton-xenon separation properties of SAPO-34 zeolite materials and membranes". United States. https://doi.org/10.1002/aic.15434. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1356958.
@article{osti_1356958,
title = {Krypton-xenon separation properties of SAPO-34 zeolite materials and membranes},
author = {Hye Kwon, Yeon and Kiang, Christine and Benjamin, Emily and Crawford, Phillip and Nair, Sankar and Bhave, Ramesh},
abstractNote = {Separation of the radioisotope 85 Kr from 136 Xe is an important target during used nuclear fuel recycling. We report a detailed study on the Kr and Xe adsorption, diffusion, and membrane permeation properties of the silicoaluminophosphate zeolite SAPO‐34. Adsorption and diffusion measurements on SAPO‐34 crystals indicate their potential for use in Kr‐Xe separation membranes, but also highlight competing effects of adsorption and diffusion selectivity. SAPO‐34 membranes are synthesized on α−alumina disk and tubular substrates via steam assisted conversion seeding and hydrothermal growth, and are characterized in detail. Membrane transport measurements reveal that SAPO‐34 membranes can separate Kr from Xe by molecular sieving, with Kr permeabilities around 50 Barrer and mixture selectivity of 25–30 for Kr at ambient or slight sub‐ambient conditions. The membrane transport characteristics are modeled by the Maxwell‐Stefan equations, whose predictions are in very good agreement with experiment and confirm the minimal competing effects of adsorption and diffusion. © 2016 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J , 63: 761–769, 2017},
doi = {10.1002/aic.15434},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1356958}, journal = {AIChE Journal},
issn = {0001-1541},
number = 2,
volume = 63,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed Jul 27 00:00:00 EDT 2016},
month = {Wed Jul 27 00:00:00 EDT 2016}
}

Journal Article:
Free Publicly Available Full Text
Publisher's Version of Record

Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 33 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

Save / Share:

Works referenced in this record:

Preparation and Gas Adsorption Characteristics of Zeolite MFI Crystals with Organic-Functionalized Interiors
journal, September 2011


The Maxwell-Stefan description of mass transport across zeolite membranes
journal, April 1995


Membrane purification in radioactive waste management: a short review
journal, February 2012


Diffusion in gas separation membrane materials: A comparison and analysis of experimental characterization techniques
journal, July 1998


Highly H 2 permeable SAPO-34 membranes by steam-assisted conversion seeding
journal, September 2014


Atomically Detailed Modeling of Metal Organic Frameworks for Adsorption, Diffusion, and Separation of Noble Gas Mixtures
journal, May 2012


The first example of commensurate adsorption of atomic gas in a MOF and effective separation of xenon from other noble gases
journal, January 2014


Nuclear waste treatment by zeolites
journal, July 1984


Membrane processes in nuclear technology-application for liquid radioactive waste treatment
journal, March 2001


Evolution of nuclear fission reactors: Third generation and beyond
journal, September 2010


Nanoporous metal formates for krypton/xenon separation
journal, January 2013


Investigating the influence of diffusional coupling on mixture permeation across porous membranes
journal, March 2013


Scale-up of SAPO-34 membranes for CO2/CH4 separation
journal, April 2010


High-Pressure CO 2 /CH 4 Separation Using SAPO-34 Membranes
journal, April 2005


Adsorption of Noble Gases on H-Mordenite
journal, November 2002


Permeation of single gases in thin zeolite MFI membranes
journal, June 1998


Synthesis and properties of A-type zeolite membranes by secondary growth method with vacuum seeding
journal, December 2004


Modelling issues in zeolite based separation processes
journal, November 2003


The generalized Maxwell–Stefan model for diffusion in zeolites:
journal, August 2000


Advanced Technology Paths to Global Climate Stability: Energy for a Greenhouse Planet
journal, November 2002


SAPO-34 membranes for CO2/CH4 separation
journal, September 2004


Separation of krypton and xenon by selective permeation
journal, November 1980


Novel Long-Term Immobilization Method for Radioactive Iodine-129 Using a Zeolite/Apatite Composite Sintered Body
journal, June 2009


Blocking defects in SAPO-34 membranes with cyclodextrin
journal, August 2010


Effects of Molecular Siting and Adsorbent Heterogeneity on the Ideality of Adsorption Equilibria
journal, March 2004


Porous materials with optimal adsorption thermodynamics and kinetics for CO2 separation
journal, February 2013


Hydrogen purification using a SAPO-34 membrane
journal, January 2008


Potential of Metal–Organic Frameworks for Separation of Xenon and Krypton
journal, December 2014


Unexpected Molecular Sieving Properties of Zeolitic Imidazolate Framework-8
journal, July 2012


Highly Tunable Molecular Sieving and Adsorption Properties of Mixed-Linker Zeolitic Imidazolate Frameworks
journal, March 2015


Improving SAPO-34 membrane synthesis
journal, October 2013


Switching Kr/Xe Selectivity with Temperature in a Metal–Organic Framework
journal, May 2012

  • Fernandez, Carlos A.; Liu, Jian; Thallapally, Praveen K.
  • Journal of the American Chemical Society, Vol. 134, Issue 22, p. 9046-9049
  • https://doi.org/10.1021/ja302071t

Works referencing / citing this record:

Xenon Recovery by DD3R Zeolite Membranes: Application in Anaesthetics
journal, October 2019


Noble gas separation by a MOF with one-dimensional channels
journal, January 2019


Xenon Recovery by DD3R Zeolite Membranes: Application in Anaesthetics
journal, September 2019