Polymeric membranes, xylene isomers separation

All the above mentioned high perm-selectivity of zeolite membranes can be attributed to the selective sorption into the membranes. Satisfactory performance can be obtained by defective zeolite membranes. Xylene isomers separation by zeolite membranes compared with polymeric membranes are summarized in Table 15.4. As shown, zeolite membranes showed much higher isomer separation performances than that of polymeric membranes. Specially, Lai et al. [41] prepared b-oriented silicalite-1 zeolite membrane by a secondary growth method with a b-oriented seed layer and use of trimer-TPA as a template in the secondary growth step. The membrane offers p-xylene permeance of 34.3 x 10 kg/m. h with p- to o-xylene separation factor of up to 500. Recently, Yuan et al. [42] prepared siUcalite-1 zeolite membrane by a template-free secondary growth method. The synthesized membrane showed excellent performance for pervaporation separation of xylene isomers at low temperature (50°C). 

Table 15.4 Comparison of xylene isomers separation by zeolite membrane and polymeric...

This cost differential can be tolerated only in applications in which polymeric membranes completely fail in the separation [78]. Demanding separation applications, where zeolite membranes could be justified, due to the high temperatures involved or the added value of the components, and have been tested at laboratory scale, are the following separation of isomers (i.e., butane isomers, xylene isomers), organic vapor separations, carbon dioxide from methane, LNG (liquefied natural gas) removal, olefines/paraffins and H2 from mixtures. In most cases, the separation is based on selective diffusion, selective adsorption, pore-blocking effects, molecular sieving, or combinations thereof. The performance or efficiency of a membrane in a mixture is determined by two parameters the separation selectivity and the permeation flux through the membrane. 

Separation of different organic components from each other is still a matter of laboratory investigation. In the past 15 years considerable efforts have been devoted to develop polymeric membranes to separate, for example, aromatic hydrocarbons from aliphatic ones which resulted in several patents [25, 26], or olefins from paraffins or to separate isomers, e.g. para- and ortho-xylenes, from each other. In the last years additional membranes [27] have become available and the first industrial applications have been reported, e.g. the separation of sulfur-containing aromatics from gasoline [28] and of benzene from a stream of saturated hydrocarbons [29], Further development of membranes, especially of the mixed-matrix type, may lead to improved selectivity and a broadening of these applications. 

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