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Organosilica membranes were fabricated using bridged organoalkoxysilanes (bis(triethoxysilyl)methane (BTESM), bis(triethoxysilyl)ethane (BTESE), bis(triethoxysilyl)propane (BTESP), bis(trimethoxysilyl)hexane (BTMSH), bis(triethoxysilyl)benzene (BTESB), and bis(triethoxysilyl)octane (BTESO)) to produce highly permeable molecular sieving membranes. The effect of the organoalkoxysilanes on network pore size and microporous structure was evaluated by examining the molecular size and temperature dependence of gas permeance across a wide range of temperatures. Organosilica membranes showed H2/N2 and H2/CH4 permeance ratios that ranged from 10 to 150, corresponding to network pore size, and both H2 selectivity decreased with an increase in the carbon number between 2 Si atoms. Organosilica membranes showed activated diffusion for He and H2, and a slope of temperature dependence that increased approximate to the increase in the carbon number between 2 Si atoms. The relationship between activation energy and He/H2 permeance ratio for SiO2 and organosilica membranes suggested that the molecular sieving can dominate He and H2 permeation properties via the rigid microporous structure, which was constructed by BTESM and BTESE. With increased in the carbon concentration in silica, polymer chain vibration in organic bridges, which is a kind of solution/diffusion mechanism, can dominate the permeation properties. © 2017 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 63: 4491–4498, 2017

A modified gas-translation (GT) model based on a GT mechanism was successfully applied to the pore-size evaluation and gas transport behavior analysis of microporous membranes with different pore-size distributions. Based on the gas permeation results of three microporous membranes derived from different alkoxides, the effects of activation energy and the selection of a standard gas on the pore-size evaluation were discussed in a comparative study. The presence of nano-sized defects had an important influence on the gas permeation performance of microporous membranes, depending largely on the original pore size of the membrane in question. Moreover, the gas-separation effect of the pore-size distribution in a silica membrane was theoretically studied and revealed a significant increase in gas permeance for relatively large gas species but not for small ones. © 2015 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 61: 2268–2279, 2015

The dehydrogenation of methylcyclohexane (MCH) to toluene (TOL) for hydrogen production was theoretically and experimentally investigated in a bimodal catalytic membrane reactor (CMR), that combined Pt/Al2O3 catalysts with a hydrogen-selective organosilica membrane prepared via sol-gel processing using bis(triethoxysilyl) ethane (BTESE). Effects of operating conditions on the membrane reactor performance were systematically investigated, and the experimental results were in good agreement with those calculated by a simulation model with a fitted catalyst loading. With H2 extraction from the reaction stream to the permeate stream, MCH conversion at 250°C was significantly increased beyond the equilibrium conversion of 0.44–0.86. Because of the high H2 selectivity and permeance of BTESE-derived membranes, a H2 flow with purity higher than 99.8% was obtained in the permeate stream, and the H2 recovery ratio reached 0.99 in a pressurized reactor. A system that combined the CMR with a fixed-bed prereactor was proposed for MCH dehydrogenation. © 2015 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 61: 1628–1638, 2015

A modified gas-translation (GT) model was applied for the theoretical analysis of gas permeation through microporous organosilica membranes derived from bis(triethoxysilyl)ethane (BTESE) via a sol–gel method using different water/alkoxide molar ratios. The pore sizes of BTESE-derived membranes were quantitatively determined by normalized Knudsen-based permeance analysis, which was based on a modified-GT model, using experimentally obtained permeances of He, H2, N2, C3H8, and SF6. The pore sizes of BTESE-derived membranes were successfully controlled from 0.65 to 0.46 nm by increasing the H2O/BTESE ratio from 6 to 240. Furthermore, theoretical correlations of all possible pairs of permeance ratios were calculated based on the modified-GT model. The experimental data were in good agreement with the theoretical correlation curves, indicating that the modified-GT model can clearly explain gas permeation mechanisms through microporous membranes, and, thus, can be used to predict the gas permeation properties for these membranes. © 2014 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J 60: 4199–4210, 2014

Bipolar membrane electrodialysis is applied to CO2 recovery from alkaline carbonate solution. CO2 in flue gas is captured by an alkaline hydroxide absorbing solution to form an alkaline carbonate solution. The captured CO2 is recovered from the alkaline carbonate solution via bipolar membrane electrodialysis, and the alkaline solution is regenerated simultaneously. To reduce the power requirement for CO2 recovery, this study considers optimal design and operation. Three membrane arrangements were compared, and the results indicate the membrane arrangement comprising a bipolar membrane and cation exchange membrane is the most energy saving. With further optimization of operation conditions, the minimum power requirement for CO2 recovery was reduced to 2.1 MJ/kg-CO2 (or 2.1 GJ/t-CO2). © 2009 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2009