Hydrophobic inorganic membranes for water/gas separation

Macroporous or mesoporous hydrophobic inorganic membranes are prepared by a simple one-pot synthesis method coupling the sol–gel process with fluorinated silanes as precursors and the use of alumina powders as fillers. The porosity of these intrinsically hydrophobic membranes can be tuned by the particle size distribution of the dispersed alumina powder. These membranes developed for water/gas separation applications are characterized in term of gas permeance and water breakthrough pressure. A value of air permeance equal to 1800 L min−1 bar−1 m−2 associated with a water breakthrough pressure larger than 10 bar are measured for the effective sample.