Hydrocarbon separation properties of a CVD-deposited ceramic membrane under single gases and binary mixed gas

• Published in: Separation and purification technology 2021-01, Vol.254, p.117642, Article 117642
• Main Authors: Park, Hee Min, Lee, Jun Yeong, Jee, Ki Yong, Nakao, Shin-ichi, Lee, Yong Taek
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Ceramic membranes; CVD process; Gas separation; Hydrocarbon separation
• ISSN: 1383-5866; 1873-3794
• DOI: 10.1016/j.seppur.2020.117642

•The silica was deposited onto the γ-Al2O3 intermediate layer of a substrate by means of CVD, with APMDES as a precursor.•The pore size of the APMDES-deposited silica membrane measured by the normalized Kunden-based permeance (NKP) is about 0.41.•The APMDES-deposited silica membrane is expected to show excellent performance in CH4 and hydrocarbon separation processing. In this study, we coated a commercially available porous alumina support with a γ-Al2O3 intermediate layer and deposited a silica membrane using chemical vapor deposition (CVD) with a 3-aminopropylmethyl diethoxysilane (APMDES) precursor. The pore size of silica membrane was 0.41 using normalized Kunden-based permeance (NKP). The single-gas selectivity of CH4 at 873 K for various hydrocarbons was estimated. A membrane prepared using CVD for 60 min yielded results of 1.50 for CH4/C2H6, 2.96 for CH4/C3H8, and 10.89 for CH4/i-C4H10. After 120 min of CVD, the selectivity increased to 34.10 for CH4/C2H6, 82.63 for CH4/C3H8, and 196.00 for CH4/i-C4H10. And, the binary mixture selectivity for CH4/hydrocarbons of a membrane prepared using CVD at 873 K for 120 min was increased: 43.02 for CH4(50%)/C2H6(50%), 110.53 for CH4(50%)/C3H8(50%), and 304.11 for CH4(50%)/i-C4H10(50%).