A support is a porous ceramic support for supporting a zeolite membrane. The hydraulic conductivity of the support is less than or equal to 1.110.sup.3 m/s. In the support, the total content of alkali metal and alkaline earth metal in a surface part within 30 m from a surface in a depth direction perpendicular to the surface is less than or equal to 1% by weight.

A zeolite membrane complex includes a porous support, and a zeolite membrane formed on the support. The zeolite membrane includes a zeolite crystal phase constituted by a plurality of zeolite crystals, and a dense grain boundary phase, which is a region between the plurality of zeolite crystals. A density of at least part of the grain boundary phase is smaller than a density of the zeolite crystal phase. A width of the grain boundary phase is 2 nm or more and 10 nm or less. Accordingly, it is possible to realize high permeability and high separating performance, and high durability of the zeolite membrane.

Provided is a method of producing a zeolite film continuously and efficiently.

Zeolite is formed on a surface of a support using a method including: a first step of attaching zeolite fine crystals to a surface of a support; a second step of preparing synthetic gel for growing the fine crystals; a third step of putting the support and the synthetic gel into a reactor and performing hydrothermal synthesis; and a fourth step of cleaning the support subjected to the hydrothermal synthesis, in which in the third step, multiple containers arranged to be movable in a constant-temperature apparatus are each used as the reactor, the temperature and pressure for the hydrothermal synthesis is adjusted by the temperature and pressure in the constant-temperature apparatus, and the reaction time of the hydrothermal synthesis is adjusted by setting the time from when the reactor enters the constant-temperature apparatus to when the reactor exits the constant-temperature apparatus.

Metal organic framework membranes can be used in gas separation applications.

Part of a zeolite membrane of a zeolite membrane complex is set in pores of a support over a boundary surface between the zeolite membrane and the support. With respect to a main element constituting the zeolite membrane, a distance in a depth direction perpendicular to the boundary surface between a position at which a ratio (B/C)/A is 0.8 and the boundary surface is preferably not smaller than 0.01 m and not larger than 5 m. B/C is a value obtained by dividing an atomic percentage B of the main element inside the support by a porosity C of the support. The ratio (B/C)/A is a ratio of the value to an atomic percentage A of the main element in the zeolite membrane.

Disclosed herein is an ion selective separation membrane including: a metal organic framework layer formed on, in, and/or around a substrate, the metal organic framework having a crystal structure that includes a first surface and a second surface and includes ion transport channels formed between respective pore windows in the first surface and the second surface; first and second electrodes to apply a potential difference across the membrane; wherein the respective pore windows have a pore size that is less than the hydrated diameter of the ion for which the ion selective separation membrane is selective.

A separation membrane structure comprises a porous support body, a zeolite membrane formed on the porous support body and comprising pores having a major diameter and a minor diameter. The ratio of a major diameter to a minor diameter is greater than 1.0. The minor diameter is greater than or equal to 0.30 nm and less than or equal to 0.35 nm.

A peak intensity of a (110) plane is greater than or equal to 2.5 times a peak intensity of a (004) plane in an X-ray diffraction pattern obtained by irradiation of X-rays to a membrane surface of the AFX membrane.

A zeolite membrane complex includes a longitudinal support member having at least one through hole extending along its length and a zeolite membrane on an inner peripheral surface of the through hole or over an outer peripheral surface of the support, from one end portion of the support to the other end portion thereof. Among constituent elements of the zeolite membrane except oxygen, an element with the highest percentage is a main element, and when the concentration of the main element is measured at three portions defined by dividing the support into three equal parts in the longitudinal direction, the concentration of the main element gradually decreases from the one end portion toward the other end portion, and the ratio of the concentration of the main element at the other end portion to that at the one end portion is 0.90 or more.

Design, fabrication, and usage of a reactor are presented for synthesis of structured materials from a liquid-phase precursor by heating. The structured materials are particles, membranes or films of micro-porous molecular sieve crystals such as zeolite and meso-porous materials. The precursor solution and structured materials in the reactor are uniformly heated by a planar heater with characteristic heat transfer dimension in the range of 3 mm to 10 cm. A planar heater having width and length at least three times of the characteristic heat transfer dimension provides at least one surface of uniform temperature distribution for heating purposes. Heating is conducted over a temperature range of 20 to 300 C. The planar heater can be heated by electrical power of by thermal fluid.