R Torkaman - Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran
M Soltanieh - Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran
H Kazemian - Department of Chemical and Process Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Kebaangsan Malaysia (UKM), ۴۳۶۰۰ UKM, Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia

MFI zeolite membranes were prepared on porous a-alumina substrates, using secondary growth of seed layers. The resulting MFI zeolite membranes were characterized by using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffractometry (XRD), and pervaporation performance of these membranes for the separation of water-BTX mixtures. The morphology, thickness, homogeneity, crystal preferential orientation and permeation properties of these membranes have been studied in relation to the seed layers. The separation of mixture of benzene, toluene and xylene (BTX) (representative of an industrially significant family of aromatic hydrocarbon chemicals produced from industrial wastes) from water was successfully obtained by using MFI zeolite membrane at optimum synthesis procedure. The influence of temperature, feed concentration on the membrane separation efficiency, permeation behavior and performance were systematically investigated. The total permeation fluxes were found to increase with increase in temperature and feed concentration. The separation factors increased with increasing feed concentration and decreased with increasing in temperature.

MFI zeolite Membrane, Pervaporation, BTX Compounds, Wastewaters