Hydrothermal synthesis of NaA zeolite membrane together with microwave heating and conventional heating

Uniform and dense NaA zeolite membrane was prepared by hydrothermal synthesis method together with microwave heating and conventional heating. The properties of the as-synthesized zeolite membrane were investigated by XRD, SEM and pervaporation evaluation for dehydration of 95 wt.% isopropanol/water mixture at 343 K, respectively. After microwave heating, the alpha-Al2O3 support surface was covered with homogeneous zeolite nuclei, which facilitated to form uniform, pure and dense NaA zeolite membrane in the following conventional heating process. High quality NaA zeolite membrane, i.e., with a separation factor (water/isopropanol) of 10,000 and a flux of 1.44 Kg/(m(2) h), could be hydrothermal synthesized together with microwave, heating and conventional heating. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.