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Title: Ion-Exchanged SAPO-34 membranes for Krypton-Xenon Separation: Control of Permeation Properties and Fabrication of Hollow Fiber Membranes

Journal Article · · ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces
 [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [2];  [1]
  1. Georgia Inst. of Technology, Atlanta, GA (United States)
  2. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

Separation of radioisotope 85Kr from 136Xe is of importance in used nuclear fuel reprocessing. Membrane separation based on zeolite molecular sieves such as chabazite SAPO- 34 is an attractive alternative to energy-intensive cryogenic distillation. We report the synthesis of SAPO-34 membranes with considerably enhanced performance, via thickness reduction based upon control of a steam-assisted vapor-solid conversion technique followed by ion exchange with alkali metal cations. The reduction of membrane thickness leads to a large increase in Kr permeance from 7.5 gas permeation units (GPU) to 26.3 GPU with ideal Kr/Xe selectivities > 20 at 298 K. Cation-exchanged membranes show large (>50%) increases in selectivity at ambient or slight sub-ambient conditions. The adsorption, diffusion, and permeation characteristics of ionexchanged SAPO-34 materials and membranes are investigated in detail, with potassium exchanged SAPO-34 membranes showing particularly attractive performance. Lastly, we then demonstrate the fabrication of selective SAPO-34 membranes on α-alumina hollow fibers.

Research Organization:
Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE)
Grant/Contract Number:
NE0008298
OSTI ID:
1418424
Journal Information:
ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, Vol. 10, Issue 7; ISSN 1944-8244
Publisher:
American Chemical Society (ACS)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 27 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (8)

Adsorption of Chelerythrine from Toddalia asiatica (L.) Lam. by ZSM-5 journal January 2020
Highly Selective SSZ-13 Zeolite Hollow Fiber Membranes by Ultraviolet Activation at Near-Ambient Temperature journal August 2018
Scalable One‐Step Gel Conversion Route to High‐Performance CHA Zeolite Hollow Fiber Membranes and Modules for CO 2 Separation journal June 2019
Xenon Recovery by DD3R Zeolite Membranes: Application in Anaesthetics journal October 2019
Continuous Zeolite MFI Membranes Fabricated from 2D MFI Nanosheets on Ceramic Hollow Fibers journal June 2019
Continuous Zeolite MFI Membranes Fabricated from 2D MFI Nanosheets on Ceramic Hollow Fibers journal May 2019
Xenon Recovery by DD3R Zeolite Membranes: Application in Anaesthetics journal September 2019
One-Pot Synthesis of High-Flux b -Oriented MFI Zeolite Membranes for Xe Recovery journal September 2018

Figures / Tables (11)