The invention concerns a method for producing a crystalline film comprising zeolite and/or zeolite-like crystals on a porous substrate The method includes the steps of: a) providing a porous substrate, b) rendering at least a part of said porous substrate hydrophobic by treatment with a composition comprising one or more hydrophobic agent(s), d) subjecting said treated porous substrate to a composition comprising zeolite and/or zeolite-like crystals thereby depositing and attaching zeolite and/or zeolite-like crystals on said treated porous substrate, and e) growing a crystalline film comprising zeolite and/or zeolite-like crystals on said treated porous substrate obtained in step d). Crystalline films find use in a variety of fields such as in the production of membranes, catalysts etc.

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.

An asymmetric membrane having a layer containing a zeolite supported on a geopolymer substrate and methods for making an asymmetric membrane having a layer containing a zeolite supported on a geopolymer substrate. A cross-flow membrane separation method for increasing the concentration of ethanol from a feed mixture comprising water and ethanol, comprising: cross-flowing a feed mixture comprising water and ethanol across the layer comprising a zeolite of the asymmetric membrane of the instant invention to produce a permeate having an ethanol concentration less than the ethanol concentration of the feed mixture and a retentate having an ethanol concentration greater than the ethanol concentration of the feed mixture, the pressure of the feed mixture being greater than the pressure of the permeate.

One object of the present invention is to provide a zeolite membrane that can achieve both practically sufficient separation performance and throughput and maintain the separation performance stably for a long period. Provided is a method of producing a zeolite membrane having CHA crystal structure on an intermediate layer of a porous support, wherein Si/Al (a molar ratio) of CHA zeolite particles is from 9.5 to 100.5 and, in an X-ray diffraction pattern obtained by applying X-ray onto a surface of the zeolite membrane, a peak intensity near 2=18 is less than 0.5 times a peak intensity near 2=21, and/or a peak intensity near 2=10 is less than 4 times a peak intensity near 2=21, the method including: forming the zeolite membrane having the CHA crystal structure on the intermediate layer of the porous support by hydrothermal synthesis, using an aqueous reaction mixture including a Si element source, an Al element source, an alkali source, and an organic template, wherein non-dealuminated FAU zeolite is used as the Si element source and the Al element source.

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.

A dehydration method is a dehydration method for selectively separating water from a mixture that contains water, and the method includes a step of supplying the mixture to a supply side space of a separation membrane, and a step of making a pressure difference between the supply side space and a permeation side space of the separation membrane. The separation membrane includes a first zeolite membrane that faces the permeation side space and is constituted by a first zeolite and a second zeolite membrane that faces the supply side space and is adjacent to the first zeolite membrane. The second zeolite membrane is constituted by a second zeolite that has the same framework structure as framework of the first zeolite and has a lower Si/Al atom ratio than a Si/Al atom ratio of the first zeolite.

A method for manufacturing a zeolite membrane structure includes a step of forming a first zeolite membrane on a porous support by hydrothermal synthesis in a state in which the porous support is immersed in a first zeolite membrane formation solution, a step of immersing the porous support formed the first zeolite membrane for greater than or equal to 5 minutes in a second zeolite membrane formation solution at greater than or equal to 10 degrees C. and less than or equal to 70 degrees C. and greater than or equal to pH 10, and a step of forming a second zeolite membrane on the first zeolite membrane by hydrothermal synthesis in a state in which the porous support formed the first zeolite membrane is immersed in the second zeolite membrane formation solution. The first zeolite membrane and the second zeolite membrane share at least one composite building unit constituting a framework structure.

Provided is a method for separating ammonia gas using zeolite membrane having excellent separation stability at a high temperature capable of separating ammonia gas from a mixed gas composed of multiple components including ammonia gas, hydrogen gas, and nitrogen gas to the permeation side with high selectivity and high permeability. Also provided is a method for separating ammonia by selectively permeating ammonia gas from a mixed gas containing at least ammonia gas, hydrogen gas, and nitrogen gas using a zeolite membrane, wherein the ammonia gas concentration in the mixed gas is 1.0% by volume or more.

Provided herein are methods for making a freeze-cast material having a internal structure, the methods comprising steps of: determining the internal structure of the material, the internal structure having a plurality of pores, wherein: each of the plurality of pores has directionality; and the step of determining comprises: selecting a temperature gradient and a freezing front velocity to obtain the determined internal structure based on the selected temperature gradient and the selected freezing front velocity; directionally freezing a liquid formulation to form a frozen solid, the step of directionally freezing comprising: controlling the temperature gradient and the freezing front velocity to match the selected temperature gradient and the selected freezing front velocity during directionally freezing; wherein the liquid formulation comprises at least one solvent and at least one dispersed species; and subliming the at least one solvent out of the frozen solid to form the material.

A membrane comprising a crystalline material deposited on a porous support. The crystalline material is made of tectosilicate with a portion of the Si atoms substituted with metal atoms. The membrane is useful in the separation of oil and water.