GOALI: Separation of Oil and Other Organics from Water Using Inverse Fluidization of Hydrophobic Aerogels

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PROPOSAL NUMBER: 0730465PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Jerry LinINSTITUTION: Arizona State UniversityPROPOSAL TITLE: GOALI: Separation of Oil and Other Organics from Water Using Inverse Fluidization of Hydrophobic AerogelsIn this project the PIs will study a continuously operating inverse fluidized bed of low density,hydrophobic aerogels to remove immiscible (such as oil), partially miscible (such as chlorinatedhydrocarbons), or totally miscible (such as ethanol) organics. The PIs plan to prove that this new sorption process can outperform a packed bed of activated carbon or other conventional sorbents for removing these contaminants. Working in partnership with Cabot Corporation, the PIs also plan to scale up the process and explore commercialization possibilities. To achieve these objectives, the PI will conduct experiments to study the equilibrium and kinetics of sorption of a variety of organic contaminants in water by nanogels of different composition, properties, and size ranges. These results will be used in designing and conducting inverse fluidization experiments, which will concentrate on measuring the hydrodynamics, liquid and particle mixing, and the adsorption/absorption efficiency and capacity of the nanogels. At the same time the PIs will develop physically reliable models to describe the effects of various operating parameters, and to predict the pressure drop, bed porosity, liquid phase mixing, nanogel feed rate and saturation values (capacity). The experimental and modeling results will be used for designing and building a prototype commercial system for treating wastewater, storm water runoff and fermentation broths at Cabot's Billerica R&D Center. Equilibrium and kinetic experiments will be performed to gain an understanding of the sorption mechanisms in hydrophobic nanogels and obtain basic equilibrium and kinetic data needed for modeling the inverse fluidized bed process for continuous separation of organics from immiscible suspensions and aqueous solutions. Broader Impacts: Undergraduate and graduate students working on the research will receive broad education and training in particle technology, nanotechnology, separation processes, and environmental science. They will also have the additional advantage of quickly gaining an industrial perspective by being jointly supervised by the Cabot Co-PIs, and will have the opportunity to spend one or two summers at the Cabot R&D facility in Billerica, MA, working with Cabot engineers to build a prototype system. Each of the four Co-PIs will serve as guest lecturers in appropriate ASU undergraduate or graduate courses, where they will present different aspects of the research to ASU students in the classroom. The University Co-PIs will strive to target the large ASU undergraduate minority and woman talent pool to join the project as research students. The Industry Co-PIs will be responsible for the transfer of new knowledge between ASU and Cabot, as well as exploring marketing and commercialization opportunities.One of the most challenging environmental problems today is the removal of oil and other organic contaminants from industrial wastewater and storm water; the proposed research program has the potential to evolve into a major enabling technology for dealing with this problem. The project will also increase industry's awareness of the opportunities that exist for using nanostructured particles in unique applications and will contribute to US manufacturing competitiveness and the preservation of the environment.