Nickel(II) ion-intercalated MXene membranes for enhanced H2/CO2 separation

Hydrogen fuel has been embraced as a potential long-term solution to the growing demand for clean energy. A membrane-assisted separation is promising in producing high-purity H₂. Molecular sieving membranes (MSMs) are endowed with high gas selectivity and permeability because their well-defined micropores can facilitate molecular exclusion, diffusion, and adsorption. In this work, MXene nanosheets intercalated with Ni²⁺ were assembled to form an MSM supported on Al₂O₃ hollow fiber via a vacuum-assisted filtration and drying process. The prepared membranes showed excellent H₂/CO₂ mixture separation performance at room temperature. Separation factor reached 615 with a hydrogen permeance of 8.35 × 10⁻⁸ mol·m⁻²·s⁻¹·Pa⁻¹. Compared with the original Ti₃C₂T_x/Al₂O₃ hollow fiber membranes, the permeation of hydrogen through the Ni²⁺-Ti₃C₂T_x/Al₂O₃ membrane was considerably increased, stemming from the strong interaction between the negatively charged MXene nanosheets and Ni²⁺. The interlayer spacing of MSMs was tuned by Ni²⁺. During 200-hour testing, the resultant membrane maintained an excellent gas separation without any substantial performance decline. Our results indicate that the Ni²⁺ tailored Ti₃C₂T_x/Al₂O₃ hollow fiber membranes can inspire promising industrial applications.     

Hydrophobic modification of SAPO-34 membranes for improvement of stability under wet condition

SAPO-34 zeolite membranes show high efficiency for CO₂/CH₄ separation but suffer from the reduction of separation performance when exposed to humid atmosphere. In this work, n-dodecyltrimethoxysilane (DTMS) was used to modify the hollow fibers supported SAPO-34 membranes to increase the external surface hydrophobicity and thus sustain their performance under moisture environment. The modified membranes were fully characterized. Their separation performance was extensively investigated in both dry and wet gaseous systems and compared with the un-modified ones. The un-modified SAPO-34 membrane exhibited a high separation selectivity of 160 and CO₂ permeance of 1.18×10^-6 mol·m^-2·s^-1·Pa^-1 for separation of dry CO₂/CH₄ at 298 K. However, its separation selectivity declined to 0.9 and the CO₂ permeance was only about 1.7×10^-8 mol·m^-2·s^-1·Pa^-1 for wet CO₂/CH₄ at same temperature. High temperature (e.g. 353 K) could reduce the effect of moisture to improve SAPO-34 separation selectivity, but further increasing temperature (e.g. 373 K) led to decrease in CO₂/CH₄ separation selectivity. A significant decrease of selectivity was observed at higher pressure drop. The modified SAPO-34 membrane showed decreased CO₂ permeance but increased separation selectivity for dry CO₂/CH₄ gas mixture, and super performance for wet CO₂/CH₄ gas mixture due to the improved hydrophobicity of membrane surface. A separation selectivity of 65 and CO₂ permeance of 4.73×10^-8 mol·m^-2·s^-1·Pa^-1 for wet CO₂/CH₄ mixture can be observed at 353 K with a pressure drop of 0.4 MPa. Furthermore, the modified membrane exhibited stable separation performance during the 120-hour test for wet CO₂/CH₄ mixture at 353 K. The hydrophobic modification paves a way for SAPO-34 membranes in real applications.     

Helium extraction from natural gas using DD3R zeolite membranes

Helium(He) is commercially produced from natural gas by low-temperature condensation. The process is energy extensive because of the extremely low He concentration(<0.3%) and the operation at cryogenic temperature. Herein we demonstrated DD3R zeolite membrane was efficient to extract He from natural gas at atmosphere temperature. The membrane performance was evaluated in terms of temperature,pressure and molar fractions. The overall membrane performance was dominated by the diffusivity select...     

High-performance SSZ-13 membranes prepared using ball-milled nanosized seeds for carbon dioxide and nitrogen separations from methane

SSZ-13 membranes with high separation performances were prepared using ball-milled nanosized seeds by once hydrothermal synthesis. Separation performances of SSZ-13 membranes in CO_2/CH_4 and N_2/CH_4 mixtures were enhanced after synthesis modification. Single-gas permeances of CO_2, N_2 and CH_4 and ideal selectivities were recorded through SSZ-13 membranes. The effects of temperature, pressure, feed flow rate and humidity on separation performance of the membranes were discussed. Three membranes prepared after synthesis modifications had an average CO_2 permeance of 1.16 × 10~(-6) mol·(m~2· s·Pa)~(-1)(equal to 3554 GPU) with an average CO_2/CH_4 selectivity of 213 in a 50 vol%/50 vol% CO_2/CH_4 mixture. It suggests that membrane synthesis has a good reproducible. The membrane also displayed a N_2 permeance of 1.07 × 10~(-7) mol·(m~2·s·Pa)~(-1)(equal to 320 GPU) with a N_2/CH_4 selectivity of 13 for a 50 vol%/50 vol% N_2/CH_4 mixture. SSZ-13 membrane displayed stable and good separation performance in the wet CO_2/CH_4 mixture for a long test period over 100 h at 348 K. The current SSZ-13 membranes show great potentials for the simultaneous removals of CO_2 and N_2 in natural gas purification as a facile process suitable for industrial application.     

Preparation and properties of hollow fibre nanofiltration membrane with continuous coffee-ring structure

Polyamide(PA)hollow fibre composite nanofiltration(NF)membranes with a coffee-ring structure and beneficial properties were prepared by adding graphene oxide(GO)into the interfacial polymerization process.The presentation of the coffee-ring structure was attributed to the heterogeneous,finely dispersed multiphase reaction system and the“coffee-stain”effect of the GO solution.When the piperazine concentration was 0.4 wt-%,the trimesoyl chloride concentration was 0.3 wt-%,and the GO concentration was 0.025 wt-%,the prepared NF membranes showed the best separation properties.The permeate flux was 76 L·m^?2·h^?1,and the rejection rate for MgSO4 was 98.6%at 0.4 MPa.Scanning electron microscopy,atomic force microscopy,and attenuated total reflectance-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy were used to characterize the chemical structure and morphology of the PA/GO NF membrane.The results showed that GO was successfully entrapped into the PA functional layer.Under neutral operating conditions,the PA/GO membrane showed typical negatively charged NF membrane separation characteristics,and the rejection rate decreased in the order of Na2SO₄>MgSO₄>MgCl₂>NaCl.The PA/GO NF membrane showed better antifouling performance than the PA membrane.     

二次水热合成法制备ZSM-5分子筛膜及其渗透汽化性能

采用二次水热合成法在管状多孔莫来石支撑体上制备高耐酸性ZSM-5分子筛膜,系统地研究分子筛晶种和合成溶胶中H₂O/SiO₂摩尔比率对ZSM-5分子筛膜生长与渗透汽化性能的影响,采用X射线衍射、冷场扫描电子显微镜和电子能谱等表征技术分别对制备的ZSM-5分子筛及其ZSM-5分子筛膜的结构、形貌和Si/Al比进行表征。针对分离75℃、90% HAc/H₂O的水溶液,最优化条件下制备的ZSM-5分子筛膜表现出优良的渗透汽化性能,渗透通量和分离因子分别为0.98kg/(m²·h)和890。此外,本研究所采用制备耐酸性ZSM-5分子筛膜的方法表现出良好的重现性,重复制备的12根ZSM-5分子筛膜在75℃下分离90% HAc/H₂O的水溶液时,平均通量和分离系数分别为（0.85±0.15）kg/(m²·h)和650±290。再者,ZSM-5分子筛膜在45～75℃的温度范围内分离50%～95% HAc/H₂O水溶液时都表现出优良的渗透汽化性能。     

Screening and design of COF-based mixed-matrix membrane for CH4/N2 separation

Membrane separation is a high-efficiency, energy-saving, and environment-friendly separation technology. Covalent organic framework (COF)-based mixed-matrix membranes (MMMs) have broad application prospects in gas separation and are expected to provide new solutions for coal-bed methane purification. Herein, a high-throughput screening method is used to calculate and evaluate COF-based MMMs for CH₄/N₂ separation. General design rules are proposed from thermodynamic and kinetic points of view using the computation-ready, experimental COFs. From our database containing 471,671 generated COFs, 5 COF membrane materials were screened with excellent membrane selectivities, which were then used as the filler of MMMs for separation performance evaluation. Among them, BAR-NAP-Benzene_CF₃ combined with polydimethylsiloxane and styrene-b-butadiene-b-styrene show high CH₄ permeability of 4.43×10^-13 mol·m·s^-1·Pa^-1·m^-2 and high CH₄/N₂ selectivity of 9.54, respectively. The obtained results may provide reasonable information for the design of COF-based membranes for the efficient separation of CH₄/N₂.     

On-stream modification of MFI zeolite membranes for enhancing hydrogen separation at high temperature

-Alumina-supported MFI zeolite membranes were modified by on-stream catalytic thermal cracking of methyldiethoxysilane (MDES) molecules inside the zeolitic channels during the separation of H₂/CO₂ gas mixture at 450 °C and atmospheric pressure. The MDES vapor was carried by the H₂/CO₂ feed gas and the effect of modification was monitored continuously through online analysis of the permeate stream. The modified membrane exhibited a significant increase in H₂ selectivity over CO₂ with a moderate decrease in H₂ permeance. At 450 °C, the modified MFI membrane obtained a H₂/CO₂ permselectivity of 17.5 with H₂ single gas permeance of 1.86 × 10⁻⁷ mol m⁻² s⁻¹ Pa⁻¹ as compared to a permselectivity of 2.78 and permeance of 2.75 × 10⁻⁷ mol m⁻² s⁻¹ Pa⁻¹ for the membrane before modification. The modified membrane also showed good performance and stability in separation of H₂/CO₂ gas mixture containing up to 28.4% water vapor at 450 °C and atmospheric pressure.     

Scale-up of NaA zeolite membranes onα-Al2O3 hollow fibers by a secondary growth method with vacuum seeding

NaA zeolite membranes were prepared by secondary growth method on the outer surface ofα-Al2O3 hollow fiber supports. Vacuum seeding method was used for planting zeolite seeds on the support surfaces. Hydrother-mal crystallization was then carried out in a synthesis solution with molar ratio of Al2O3:SiO2:Na2O:H2O=1:2:2:120 at 100 °C for 4 h. Effects of seeding conditions on preparation of hollow fiber NaA zeolite membranes were extensively investigated. Moreover, hollow fiber membrane modules with packing membrane areas of ca. 0.1 and 0.2 m2 were fabricated to separate ethanol/water mixture. It is found that the thickness of seed layer is obviously affected by seed suspension concentration, coating time and vacuum degree. Close-packing seed layer is required to obtain high-quality membranes. The optimized seeding conditions (seed suspension mass concentration of 0.5%–0.7%, coating time of 5 s and vacuum degree of 10 kPa) lead to dense NaA zeolite layer with a thickness of 6–8μm. Typically, an as-synthesized hollow fiber NaA zeolite membrane exhibits good pervaporation performance with a permeation flux of 7.02 kg·m?2·h?1 and separation factor N 10000 for sepa-ration of 90%(by mass) ethanol/water mixture at 75 °C. High reproducibility has been achieved for batch-scale production of hollow fiber NaA zeolite membranes by the hydrothermal synthesis approach.     

Novel Ag-AgBr decorated composite membrane for dye rejection and photodegradation under visible light

Photocatalytic membranes have received increasing attention due to their excellent separation and photodegradation of organic contaminants in wastewater. Herein, we bound Ag-AgBr nanoparticles onto a synthesized polyacrylonitrile-ethanolamine (PAN-ETA) membrane with the aid of a chitosan (CS)-TiO₂ layer via vacuum filtration and in-situ partial reduction. The introduction of the CS-TiO₂ layer improved surface hydrophilicity and provided attachment sites for the Ag-AgBr nanoparticles. The PAN-ETA/CS-TiO₂/Ag-AgBr photocatalytic membranes showed a relatively high water permeation flux (~ 47 L·m^–2·h^–1·bar^–1) and dyes rejection (methyl orange: 88.22%; congo red: 95%; methyl blue: 97.41%; rose bengal: 99.98%). Additionally, the composite membranes exhibited potential long-term stability for dye/salt separation (dye rejection: ~97%; salt rejection: ~6.5%). Moreover, the methylene blue and rhodamine B solutions (20 mL, 10 mg·L⁻¹) were degraded approximately 90.75% and 96.81% in batch mode via the synthesized photocatalytic membranes under visible light irradiation for 30 min. This study provides a feasible method for the combination of polymeric membranes and inorganic catalytic materials.     

Negatively charged organic–inorganic hybrid silica nanofiltration membranes for lithium extraction

Effective extraction of lithium from high Mg~(2+)/Li+ratio brine lakes is of great challenge. In this work, organic–inorganic hybrid silica nanofiltration(NF) membranes were prepared by dip-coating a 1,2-bis(triethoxysilyl)ethane(BTESE)-derived separation layer on tubular TiO_2 support, for efficient separation of LiC l and MgCl_2 salt solutions. We found that the membrane calcinated at 400 °C(M1–400) could exhibit a narrow pore size distribution(0.63–1.66 nm) owing to the dehydroxylation and the thermal degradation of the organic bridge groups. All as-prepared membranes exhibited higher rejections to LiCl than to MgCl_2, which was attributed to the negative charge of the membrane surfaces. The rejection for LiCl and MgCl_2 followed the order: LiCl N MgCl_2, revealing that Donnan exclusion effect dominated the salt rejection mechanism. In addition, the triplecoated membrane calcined at 400 °C(M3–400) exhibited a permeability of about 9.5 L·m~(-2)·h~(-1)·bar~(-1) for LiCl or MgCl_2 solutions, with rejections of 74.7% and 20.3% to LiCl and MgCl_2,respectively, under the transmembrane pressure at 6 bar. Compared with the previously reported performance of NF membranes for Mg~(2+)/Li+separation, the overall performance of M3–400 is highly competitive. Therefore, this work may provide new insight into designing robust silica-based ceramic NF membranes with negative charge for efficient lithium extraction from salt lakes.     

H2, CO, N2, O2和CH4在碳膜中的扩散

Diffusion of pure H2, CO, N2,O2 and CH4 gases through nanoporous carbon membrane is investigated by carrying out non-equilibrium molecular dynamics （NEMD） simulations. The flux, transport diffusivity and activation energy for the pure gases diffusing through carbon membranes with various pore widths were investigated. The simulation results reveal that transport diffusivity increases with temperature and pore width, and its values have a magnitude of 10^-7 m^2·s^-1 for pore widths of about 0.80 to 1.21 nm at 273 to 300 K. The activation energies for the gases diffusion through the membrane with various pore widths are about 1-5 kJ·mol^-1, The results of transport diffusivities are comparable with that of Rao and Sircar （J. Membr. Sci., 1996）, indicating the NEMD simulation method is a good tool for predicting the transport diffusivities for gases in porous materials, which is always difficult to be accurately measured by experiments.     

添加剂和凝结剂温度对用无溶剂致相位分离法生产高性能PVDF/聚醚F127混合中空光纤膜的影响(英文)

Poly(vinylidene fluoride)(PVDF) has become one of the most popular materials for membrane prepara-tion via nonsolvent induced phase separation(NIPS) process.In this study,an amphiphilic block copolymer,Plu-ronic F127,has been used as both a pore-former and a surface-modifier in the fabrication of PVDF hollow fiber membranes to enhance the membrane permeability and hydrophilicity.The effects of 2nd additive and coagulant temperature on the formation of PVDF/Pluronic F127 membranes have also been investigated.The as-spun hollow fibers were characterized in terms of cross-sectional morphology,pure water permeation(PWP),relative molecular mass cut-off(MWCO),membrane chemistry,and hydrophilicity.It was observed that the addition of Pluronic F127 significantly increased the PWP of as-spun fibers,while the membrane contact angle was reduced.However,the size of macrovoids in the membranes was undesirably large.The addition of a 2nd additive,including lithium chlo-ride(LiCl) and water,or an increase in coagulant temperature was found to effectively suppress the macrovoid for-mation in the Pluronic-containing membranes.In addition,the use of LiCl as a 2nd additive also further enhanced the PWP and hydrophilicity of the membranes,while the surface pore size became smaller.PVDF hollow fiber with a PWP as high as 2530 L?m?2?h?1?MPa?1,a MWCO of 53000 and a contact angle of 71° was successfully fabricated with 3%(by mass) of Pluronic F127 and 3%(by mass) of LiCl at a coagulant temperature of 25 °C,which shows better performance as compared with most of PVDF hollow fiber membranes made by NIPS method.     

Silicalite-1 zeolite composite membranes

This review paper discusses the preparation of silicalite-1 zeolite membranes, the experimental procedures used for gas separation measurements and the results of single gas and gas mixture experiments. Silicalite-alumina composite membranes were prepared by an in-situ zeolite synthesis method using an alumina membrane tube with a 5-nm-pore-diameter, γ-alumina layer as a substrate. Single gas permeances of H₂, Ar, n-C₄H₁₀, i-C₄H₁₀ and SF₆ were measured and mixtures of H₂/i-C₄H₁₀ and H₂/SF₆ were separated to characterize the silicalite membrane. These measurements were made from 300 to 737 K. Transport through the silicalite membrane appeared to be controlled by molecular size and adsorption properties. Permeances of all components studied were activated, and activation energies ranged from 8.5 to 16.2 kJ/mol. The ratio of single gas permeances was as high as 136 for H₂/SF₆ and 1100 for H₂/i-C₄H₁₀ at 298 K. Separation selectivities at elevated temperatures were significantly above Knudsen diffusion selectivity and were larger than ratios of pure gas permeances at the same temperature. The largest permeance ratio for the separation of mixtures was 12.8 for H₂/SF₆ at 583 K. Separation selectivities were higher when a pressure drop was maintained across the membrane than when an inert sweep gas was used because of counter diffusion of the sweep gas.     

ALTERNATIVE GENERATION OF H2, CO AND H2, CO2 MIXTURES FROM STEAM-CARBON DIOXIDE REFORMING OF METHANE AND THE WATER GAS SHIFT WITH PERMEABLE (MEMBRANE) REACTORS

A new process is proposed which converts CO₂ and CH₄ containing gas streams to synthesis gas, a mixture of CO and H₂ via the catalytic reaction scheme of steam-carbon dioxide reforming of methane or the respective one of only carbon dioxide reforming of methane, in permeable (membrane) reactors. The membrane reformer (permreactor) can be made by reactive or inert materials such as metal alloys, microporous ceramics, glasses and composites which all are hydrogen permselective. The rejected CO reacts with steam and converted catalytically to CO₂ and H₂ via the water gas shift in a consecutive permreactor made by similar to the reformer materials and alternatively by high glass transition temperature polymers. Both permreactors can recover H₂ in permeate by using metal membranes, and H₂ rich mixtures by using ceramic, glass and composite type permselective membranes. H₂ and CO₂ can be recovered simultaneously in water gas shift step after steam condensation by using organic polymer membranes. Product yields are increased through permreactor equilibrium shift and reaction separation process integration.

CO and H₂ can be combined in first step to be used for chemical synthesis or as fuel in power generation cycles. Mixtures of CO₂ and H₂ in second step can be used for synthesis as well (e.g., alternative methanol synthesis) and as direct feed in molten carbonate fuel cells. Pure H₂ from the above processes can be used also for synthesis or as fuel in power systems and fuel cells. The overall process can be considered environmentally benign because it offers an in-situ abatement of the greenhouse CO₂ and CH₄ gases and related hydrocarbon-CO₂ feedstocks (e.g., coal, landfill, natural, flue gases), through chemical reactions, to the upgraded calorific value synthesis gas and H₂, H₂ mixture products.     

Ceramic Supported PDMS and PEGDA Composite Membranes for CO2 Separation

Composite membranes have attracted increasing attentions owing to their potential applications for CO2 separation. In this work, ceramic supported polydimethylsiloxane （PDMS） and poly （ethylene glycol） diacrylate （PEGDA） composite membranes were prepared. The microstructure and physicochemical properties of the compos- ite membranes were characterized. Preparation conditions were systematically optimized. The gas separation performance of the as-prepared membranes was studied by pure gas and binary gas permeation measurement of CO〉 N2 and H〉 Experiments showed that PDMS, as silicone rubber, exhibited larger permeance and lower separation factors. Conversely, PEGDA composite membrane presented smaller gas permeance but higher ideal selectivity for CO2/N2. Compared to the performance of those membranes using polymeric supports or freestanding membranes, the two kinds of ceramic supported composite membranes exhibited higher gas permeance and acceptable selectivity. Therefore, the ceramic supported composite membrane can be expected as a candidate for CO2 separation from light gases.     

Preparation of hydrophobic flat sheet membranes from PVDF-HFP copolymer for enhancing the oxygen permeance in nitrogen/oxygen gas mixture

In this study, poly(vinilydene fluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene)(PVDF-HFP) was used for preparation of hydrophobic membranes using non-solvent induced phase inversion(NIPS) technique. PVDF-HFP copolymer with concentrations of 10 wt% and 12 wt% was prepared to investigate the effect of polymer concentration on pore structure,morphology, hydrophobicity and performance of prepared membranes. Besides, the use of two coagulation baths with the effects of parameters such as coagulant time, polymer type and concentration, and the amount of nonsolvent were studied. The performance of prepared membranes was evaluated based on the permeability and selectivity of oxygen and nitrogen from a gas mixture of nitrogen/oxygen under operating conditions of feed flow rate(1–5 L·min~(-1)), inlet pressure to membrane module(0.1–0.5 MPa) and temperatures between 25 and 45 °C. The results showed that the use of two coagulation baths with different compositions of distillated water and isopropanol,coagulant time, polymer type and concentration, and the amount of non-solvent additive have the most effect on pore structure, morphology, thickness, roughness and crystallinity of fabricated membranes. Porosity ranges for the three fabricated membranes were determined, where the maximum porosity was 73.889% and the minimum value was 56.837%. Also, the maximum and minimum average thicknesses of membrane were 320.85 μm and115 μm. Besides, the values of 4.7504 × 10~(-7) mol· m~(-2)· s~(-1)· Pa~(-1), 0.525 and 902.126 nm were achieved for maximum oxygen permeance, O_2/N_2 selectivity and roughness, respectively.     

Regulatable pervaporation performance of Zn-MOFs/polydimethylsiloxane mixed matrix pervaporation membranes

Pervaporation (PV) is an emerging separation technique for liquid mixture. Mixed matrix membranes (MMMs) often demonstrate trade-off relationship between separation factor and flux. In this study, by changing the organic linkers (2-methyl imidazolate, imidazole-2-carboxaldehyde, 2-ethyl imidazolate), ZIF-8, ZIF-90 and MAF-6 were prepared and filled in polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) membranes for dealcoholization of 5% (mass) n-butanol solution, and the membranes properties and pervaporation performances were adjusted. Compared with the pure PDMS membrane, the addition of ZIF-8 resulted in a 9% increase in flux (1136 g·m^-2·h^-1) and a 22.5% increase in separation factor (28.3), displaying anti-trade-off effect. For the MAF-6/PDMS MMMs (2.0% mass loading), the pervaporation separation index (PSI) and separation factor were 32347 g·m^-2·h^-1 and 58.6 respectively (increased by 34% and 154% in contrast with that of the pure PDMS membrane), and the corresponding permeation flux was 552 g·m^-2·h^-1, presenting great potential in the removal butanol from water. It was deduced that the large aperture size combined with moderate hydrophobicity of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) favor the concurrent increase in permeability and selectivity.     

Improvement of porous polyvinylidene fluoride-co-hexafluropropylene hollow fiber membranes for sweeping gas membrane distillation of ethylene glycol solution

Porous polyvinylidene fluoride-co-hexafluropropylene (PVDF-HFP) hollow fiber membranes were fabricated through a wet spinning process. In order to improve the membrane structure, composition of the polymer solution was adjusted by studying ternary phase diagrams of polymer/solvent/non-solvent. The prepared membranes were used for sweeping gas membrane distillation (SGMD) of 20 wt% ethylene glycol (EG) aqueous solution. The membranes were characterized by different tests such as N₂ permeation, overall porosity, critical water entry pressure (CEP_w), water contact angle and collapsing pressure. From FESEM examination, addition of 3 wt% glycerol in the PVDF-HFP solution, produced membranes with smaller finger-likes cavities, higher surface porosity and smaller pore sizes. Increasing the polymer concentration up to 21 wt% resulted in a dense spongy structure which could significantly reduce the N₂ permeance. The membrane prepared by 3 wt% glycerol and 17 wt% polymer demonstrated an improved structure with mean pore size of 18 nm and a high surface porosity of 872 m^-1. CEP_w of 350 kPa and overall porosity of 84% were also obtained for the improved membrane. Collapsing pressure of the membranes relatively improved by increasing the polymer concentration. From the SGMD test, the developed membrane represented a maximum permeate flux of 28 kg·m^-2·h^-1 which is almost 19% higher than the flux of plain membrane. During 120 h of a long-term SGMD operation, a gradual flux reduction of 30% was noticed. In addition, EG rejection reduced from 100% to around 99.5% during 120 h of the operation.     

Preparation of Ni/bentonite catalyst and its applications in the catalytic hydrogenation of nitrobenzene to aniline

Ni supported on bentonite was prepared by the impregnation method with different nickel contents, applied to the hydrogenation of nitrobenzene to aniline in a fixed-bed reactor, and it was characterized by X-ray diffraction(XRD), H_2-temperature programmed reduction(H_2-TPR), and X-ray photoelectron spectrometry(XPS). The results showed that Ni/bentonite catalyst with 20 wt% nickel content provided a higher conversion of nitrobenzene and selectivity of aniline compared to other catalysts. Ni O was the precursor of the active component of the catalyst, and the small crystallite size as well as the highly dispersed Ni O on the Ni/bentonite-20 catalyst, contributed to the catalytic performance. The hydrogenation of nitrobenzene was carried out at 300 °C with a H_2 gaseous hourly space velocity of 4800 ml·(g cat)~(-1)·h~(-1)and a nitrobenzene liquid hourly space velocity of4.8 ml·(g cat)~(-1)·h~(-1)over Ni/bentonite-20. A 95.7% nitrobenzene conversion and 98.8% aniline selectivity were obtained. While the nitrobenzene liquid hourly space velocity was 4.8 ml·(g cat)~(-1)·h~(-1), the yield of aniline was more than 95.0% during a 10-hour reaction.