What are Zeolite membranes?

 

  • Zeolite membranes are porous ceramic materials with high permeability and stability.  
     

  • Footprint of equipment only 5% compared to competing polymeric membranes. Fewer membrane modules needed.
     

  • Enable completely new types of separations not possible today with polymeric membranes.
     

  • More than 200 zeolites with different pore size are known.

 

Much energy can be saved by replacing thermally driven separation processes with membrane separation.

 

  • Membrane processes require up to about 100x less energy compared to thermally driven separation processes.
     

  • Lowered CAPEX and OPEX compared to thermally driven separation processes.
     

  • Polymeric membranes are established on the market for industrial gas separations in large-scale. The membranes are (usually) dense and have low permeability, which results in large membrane areas, and many modules are needed in a process.

 
“If amine scrubbers are replaced by membranes, as much as about 3 GJ steam/ton CO2 can be used for other purposes. In only the ammonia plants in the world, this energy corresponds to the whole Swedish oil consumption.
”

Comparison polymeric and zeolite membranes for
separation of 300 ton CO2/day

 
 

CO2 permeance (10-8 mol/(m2 s Pa)

Area (m2) needed (Dp CO2 10 bar)

Area/module (m2)

Modules needed

 

Polymeric membranes

 

20

395

20 (spiral wound)

20

 

Zeolite membranes
 

700

11.2

10 (19 channel tubes)

1.1

 

Zeolite membranes have ~1/20th in footprint and only ~1/20th of the very costly steel modules are needed as compared with state-of-the-art polymeric membranes. 

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