SBIR Phase I: Plasticization-Resistant Hybrid Membranes for Olefin-Paraffin Separations

这个小型企业创新研究（SBIR）一期项目将重点研究使用有机-无机杂化膜分离烯烃/石蜡蒸汽混合物。这些膜由薄的选择性层组成，其中包含分散在聚合物基质中的纳米级无机颗粒的相互连接的网络。无机网络增加了膜的耐久性，抑制了聚合物选择层的膨胀。这使得膜在具有挑战性的工业条件下保持高的烯烃/石蜡选择性。通过无机相与基质聚合物的适当结合，将有可能开发出能够有效分离各种蒸汽/蒸汽混合物的膜。该项目更广泛的影响（商业潜力）将是开发一种新型蒸汽/蒸汽选择膜。如果这项技术被成功开发，膜可以被定制来执行各种重要的商业分离。基于这种膜的系统将对蒸馏——石化和炼油行业的主要分离技术——构成严重的竞争。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will focus on the separation of olefin/paraffin vapor mixtures using organic-inorganic hybrid membranes. These membranes consist of thin selective layers that contain an interconnected network of nano-sized inorganic particles dispersed in a polymer matrix. The inorganic network increases membrane durability and inhibits swelling of the polymer selective layer. This allows the membranes to retain high olefin/paraffin selectivities at challenging industrial conditions. By the appropriate combination of the inorganic phase with the matrix polymer, it will be possible to develop membranes capable of efficiently separating a wide variety of vapor/vapor mixtures. The broader impacts (commercial potential) of this project will be the development of a new type of vapor/vapor selective membrane. If the technology is successfully developed, membranes could be tailored to perform a variety of important commercial separations. Systems based on such membranes would provide serious competition to distillation, the workhorse separation technology of the petrochemical and refining industries.