Enhanced desulfurization performance of hybrid membranes using embedded hierarchical porous SBA-15

Abstract

The utilization of materials with a hierarchical porous structure as multi-functional additives is highly attractive in the preparation of hybrid membranes. In this study, novel hybrid membranes are designed by embedding hierarchical porous Santa Barbara Amorphous 15 (SBA-15) with a dual-pore architecture (micropores and mesopores) for pervaporation desulfurization. The SBA-15 with cylindrical mesopores provides molecular transport expressways to ensure improved permeability, while micropores on the wall have molecular sieving effects that are essential for the enhancement of permselectivity of thiophene molecules. Considering thiophene/n-octane mixture as a model system, the hybrid membrane with embedded 6 wt-% SBA-15 exhibits optimal pervaporation desulfurization performance with a permeation flux of 22.07 kg·m⁻²·h⁻¹ and an enrichment factor of 6.76. Moreover, the detailed structure and properties of hybrid membranes are systematically characterized. This study demonstrates the immense potential of hierarchical porous materials as additives in membranes to simultaneously increase permeability and permselectivity.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

hybrid membranes / hierarchical porous SBA-15 / sieving effect / pervaporation / desulfurization

References

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Acknowledgments

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 21621004, 21409583, and 21878216), the Program of Introducing Talents of Discipline to Universities (No. B06006), the State Key Laboratory of Organic-Inorganic Composites (No. OIC-201801003) and the Open Project Program of State Key Laboratory of Petroleum Pollution Control (Grant No. PPC2017014), CNPC Research Institute of Safety and Environmental Technology.

Electronic Supplementary Material

Supplementary material is available in the online version of this article at https://doi.org/10.1007/s11705-019-1830-3 and is accessible for authorized users.

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