A novel synthesis method was developed for the fabrication of silicalite-2 zeolite membrane on a cheap macroporous alpha-Al2O3 support. This method involved two steps: seeding with silicalite-2 zeolite seeds and steam-assisted crystallization (SAC). The synthesized membrane exhibited a separation factor of 12.8 and a flux of 2.58 kg m(-2)h(-1) for 5 wt % ethanol/95 wt % water mixtures at 60 degrees C by pervaporation (PV).