STTR Phase I: Nanoparticle-Stabilized Vapor-Selective Membranes

STTR 第一阶段：纳米颗粒稳定的蒸汽选择性膜

• 批准号: 0419401
• 负责人: Tim Merkel
• 金额: $ 10万
• 依托单位: MEMBRANE TECHNOLOGY & RESEARCH, INC.
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2004
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2004-07-01 至 2005-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0419401&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: STTR; Phase; Nanoparticle; Stabilized; Vapor

This Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I project focuses on vapor-selective membranes that are stabilized through the addition of nanoscale fillers. Vapor-selective membranes, which preferentially permeate the larger molecules in a gas mixture, are used in industrial separation applications such as organic monomer recovery in polyolefin production and natural gas dew point adjustment. Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), a membrane material with modest selectivity, is typically used in separations of this type. Polymers with superior selectivity properties have been identified, but these materials suffer performance degradation over time due to physical aging. Recently, we have discovered that the addition of certain nanoscale fillers stabilizes these highly-selective polymers. In the proposed project, such fillers will be added to high-performance, vapor-selective polymers to yield novel, stable nanocomposite membranes. Successful development of the proposed membranes would allow the recovery of hydrogen from refinery streams that cannot be cost-effectively separated with conventional technologies, including currently available membranes. Flaring of these off-gas streams results in an estimated annual loss of $300 million to U.S. refineries.

这个小型企业技术转让(STTR)第一阶段项目的重点是通过添加纳米级填料来稳定蒸汽选择膜。蒸汽选择性膜优先渗透混合气体中的较大分子，用于工业分离应用，如聚烯烃生产中的有机单体回收和天然气露点调整。聚二甲基硅氧烷(PDMS)是一种选择性适中的膜材料，通常用于这类分离。已发现具有优异选择性性能的聚合物，但由于物理老化，这些材料的性能会随着时间的推移而下降。最近，我们发现添加某些纳米级的填料可以稳定这些高选择性的聚合物。在拟议的项目中，这种填料将被添加到高性能、蒸汽选择性聚合物中，以产生新型、稳定的纳米复合膜。拟议的膜的成功开发将允许从炼油厂蒸气中回收氢气，而传统技术，包括目前可用的膜，无法以经济高效的方式分离这些氢气。这些尾气的燃烧给美国炼油厂造成的损失估计为每年3亿美元。