Stable hybrid silica nanosieve membranes for the dehydration of lower alcohols.

A thirst for water: Organic-inorganic hybrid silica nanosieve membranes with narrow pore size distributions were developed for the separation of binary (bio)alcohol/water mixtures, for example, to remove water from wet biofuels during production. These membranes dehydrate lower alcohols and show a stable performance in the presence of significant amounts of acetic acid.