Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Ultrathin ZSM-5 zeolite nanosheet laminated membrane for high-flux desalination of concentrated brines

Journal Article · · Science Advances
 [1];  [2];  [2];  [2];  [2];  [3];  [2]
  1. Univ. of Cincinnati, OH (United States). Dept. of Chemical and Environmental Engineering; DOE/OSTI
  2. Univ. of Cincinnati, OH (United States). Dept. of Chemical and Environmental Engineering
  3. Nanjing Univ. of Technology (China). State Key Lab. of Materials-Oriented Chemical Engineering (MCE)

The tremendous potential of zeolite membranes for efficient molecular separation via size-exclusion effects is highly desired by the energy and chemical industries, but its practical realization has been hindered by nonselective permeation through intercrystalline spaces and high resistance to intracrystalline diffusion in the conventional zeolite membranes of randomly oriented polycrystalline structures. Here, we report the synthesis of ZSM-5 zeolite nanosheets with very large aspect ratios and nanometer-scale thickness in the preferred straight channel direction. We used these ZSM-5 nanosheets to fabricate ultrathin (<500 nm) laminated membranes on macroporous alumina substrates by a simple dip-coating process and subsequent consolidation via vapor-phase crystallization. This ultrathinb-oriented ZSM-5 membrane has demonstrated extraordinary water flux combined with high salt rejection in pervaporation desalination for brines containing up to 24 weight % of dissolved NaCl. The ZSM-5 nanosheets may also offer opportunities to developing high-performance battery ion separators, catalysts, adsorbents, and thin-film sensors.

Research Organization:
Arizona State Univ., Tempe, AZ (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Fossil Energy (FE)
Grant/Contract Number:
FE0026435
OSTI ID:
1614281
Journal Information:
Science Advances, Journal Name: Science Advances Journal Issue: 11 Vol. 4; ISSN 2375-2548
Publisher:
AAASCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (50)

Synthesis of MFI zeolite membranes for water desalination journal February 2007
Long term pervaporation desalination of tubular MFI zeolite membranes journal October 2012
Template-removal-associated microstructural development of porous-ceramic-supported MFI zeolite membranes journal March 2000
Interaction between Water and Alkali Metal Ions and Its Temperature Dependence Revealed by Oxygen K-Edge X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy journal November 2017
Atomistic Understanding of Zeolite Nanosheets for Water Desalination journal April 2017
Concentration Dependence of Ionic Hydration Numbers journal August 2014
Effect of Hydrophilic Defects on Water Transport in MFI Zeolites journal May 2014
Stable single-unit-cell nanosheets of zeolite MFI as active and long-lived catalysts journal September 2009
Ultra-selective high-flux membranes from directly synthesized zeolite nanosheets journal March 2017
Interplay between hydrophilicity and surface barriers on water transport in zeolite membranes journal October 2016
Low-energy desalination journal April 2018
Purification of High Salinity Brine by Multi-Stage Ion Concentration Polarization Desalination journal August 2016
Dispersible Exfoliated Zeolite Nanosheets and Their Application as a Selective Membrane journal October 2011
Desalination and Reuse of High-Salinity Shale Gas Produced Water: Drivers, Technologies, and Future Directions text January 2013
Unlocking High-Salinity Desalination with Cascading Osmotically Mediated Reverse Osmosis: Energy and Operating Pressure Analysis text January 2018
Open-Pore Two-Dimensional MFI Zeolite Nanosheets for the Fabrication of Hydrocarbon-Isomer-Selective Membranes on Porous Polymer Supports journal April 2016
para -Xylene Ultra-selective Zeolite MFI Membranes Fabricated from Nanosheet Monolayers at the Air-Water Interface journal December 2017
Open-Pore Two-Dimensional MFI Zeolite Nanosheets for the Fabrication of Hydrocarbon-Isomer-Selective Membranes on Porous Polymer Supports journal April 2016
para -Xylene Ultra-selective Zeolite MFI Membranes Fabricated from Nanosheet Monolayers at the Air-Water Interface journal December 2017
Template-removal-associated microstructural development of porous-ceramic-supported MFI zeolite membranes journal March 2000
Zeolite membranes for ion separations from aqueous solutions journal May 2015
Reverse osmosis of ionic aqueous solutions on aMFI zeolite membrane journal November 2004
Multi-effect boiling systems from an energy viewpoint journal June 2006
The sweet spot of forward osmosis: Treatment of produced water, drilling wastewater, and other complex and difficult liquid streams journal January 2014
Desalination by pervaporation: A review journal June 2016
Assessment of desalination technologies for treatment of a highly saline brine from a potential CO2 storage site journal February 2017
A review on inorganic membranes for desalination and wastewater treatment journal May 2018
Recent development of novel membranes for desalination journal May 2018
Management and dewatering of brines extracted from geologic carbon storage sites journal August 2017
Desalination by reverse osmosis using MFI zeolite membranes journal November 2004
High recovery of concentrated RO brines using forward osmosis and membrane distillation journal April 2009
Nonionic zeolite membrane as potential ion separator in redox-flow battery journal January 2014
Molecular simulation of water adsorption in silicalite: Effect of silanol groups and different cations journal July 2009
Transport of water and alkali metal ions through MFI zeolite membranes during reverse osmosis journal February 2007
Seawater desalination performance of MFI type membranes made by secondary growth journal August 2009
Unlocking High-Salinity Desalination with Cascading Osmotically Mediated Reverse Osmosis: Energy and Operating Pressure Analysis journal January 2018
Proton-Selective Ion Transport in ZSM-5 Zeolite Membrane journal November 2016
Zeolite (MFI) Crystal Morphology Control Using Organic Structure-Directing Agents journal December 2004
Desalination and Reuse of High-Salinity Shale Gas Produced Water: Drivers, Technologies, and Future Directions journal August 2013
Enhanced Water Permeation of Reverse Osmosis through MFI-Type Zeolite Membranes with High Aluminum Contents journal February 2007
Behavior of Water in the Hydrophobic Zeolite Silicalite at Different Temperatures. A Molecular Dynamics Study journal May 2003
Internal Surface Modification of MFI-Type Zeolite Membranes for High Selectivity and High Flux for Hydrogen journal May 2009
High-flux water desalination with interfacial salt sieving effect in nanoporous carbon composite membranes journal March 2018
A zeolite-like aluminophosphate membrane with molecular-sieving property for water desalination journal January 2018
Emerging investigators series: prospects and challenges for high-pressure reverse osmosis in minimizing concentrated waste streams journal January 2018
A zeolite ion exchange membrane for redox flow batteries journal January 2014
Integrated processes for desalination and salt production: A mini-review
  • Wenten, I. Gede; Ariono, Danu; Purwasasmita, Mubiar
  • ENGINEERING INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE (EIC) 2016: Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Education, Concept, and Application of Green Technology, AIP Conference Proceedings https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4976929
conference January 2017
Merocyanine 540 as an optical probe of transmembrane electrical activity in the heart journal March 2003
Desalination Freshens Up journal August 2006
Comprehensive Handbook of Chemical Bond Energies book March 2007

Cited By (3)


Similar Records

Influence of intercrystalline mass transfer on catalytic properties of Pt/H-ZSM-5/Al sub 2 O sub 3 catalyst
Journal Article · Tue Feb 28 23:00:00 EST 1989 · Journal of Catalysis; (USA) · OSTI ID:6355430

Kinetics of toluene disproportionation over unmodified and modified ZSM-5 zeolites
Journal Article · Thu Dec 31 23:00:00 EST 1992 · Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research; (United States) · OSTI ID:6561054

Freestanding self-assembled sulfonated pentablock terpolymer membranes for high flux pervaporation desalination
Journal Article · Mon Jul 06 00:00:00 EDT 2020 · Journal of Membrane Science · OSTI ID:1638929