Abstract
Reduction of energy consumption in the industry sector, especially chemical industry, is strong demand. In chemical industry about 40% of the total energy consumption is for distillation. Thus, reduction of the energy used in distillation by introducing membrane technology would have strong impact. Zeolites, a class of microporous ceramic materials, have superior physicochemical properties, such as molecular sieving and preferential adsorption, in addition to high thermal, chemical, and structural stability. In this report, development of zeolite membranes will be emphasized to be attractive as a strong candidate enabling us to reduce energy consumption in chemical industry. In particular, we have started operation of a bench-scale test plant for the separation of water and isopropyl alcohol (IPA) at the production site of IPA, Kawasaki, Japan. This is the first on-site test plant using ceramic membrane in petrochemical industry. Also, acid-resistant zeolite membrane has been developed for the dehydration of acetic acid.
