MRI RAPID: Acquisition of High-Rate Nanomanufacturing System for Accelerated Development of Novel Materials and Processes for Oil Spill Remediation

1058522 Dzenis目前从海洋表面捕集石油的方法已被证明不足以清理墨西哥湾的泄漏。到目前为止，只有不到三分之一的泄漏石油被收集起来。一些现有的方法，如化学分散剂，可能会造成污染。随着浮油的扩散以及当地浓度和厚度的减少，现有的方法和材料在长期清理工作中将继续变得越来越无效。迫切需要开发创新的、可快速部署的和高效的原油捕获方法，该方法能够捕获分布在大面积上的薄浮油。UNL建议为此目的使用连续纳米纤维。最近，几种纳米吸附材料已显示出具有上级吸油性能。连续的纳米纤维可以直接沉积在海洋表面上并从海洋表面收集。UNL和PI是连续纳米纤维研究的领导者之一，并有能力开发适合快速部署的新型材料和工艺，并能够对长期溢油补救产生重大影响。在这一领域加速研究和开发的一个瓶颈问题是无法获得高生产率的纳米制造设备来生产大量的纳米纤维以进行快速筛选和优化。目前的工艺，包括UNL使用的工艺，每小时生产毫克至克的纳米纤维。该提案要求获得支持，以获得一个新的纳米制造系统，能够以3-5个数量级的速度生产纳米纤维。

1058522DzenisCurrent methods of oil capture from the ocean surface have proven inadequate in the Gulf of Mexico spill clean-up. Less than a third of the spilled oil has been collected to date. Some of the existing methods such as chemical dispersants might have contributed to pollution. The existing methods and materials will continue to be rendered progressively less effective in the long term clean-up as the oil slick spreads and the local concentration and thickness of oil reduce. There is a pressing need for the development of innovative, rapidly deployable, and highly efficient methods of capturing crude oil capable of capturing thin slicks spread over large areas. UNL proposes to use continuous nanofibers for this purpose. Recently, several nanofilamentary materials have been shown possessing superior oil absorbing properties. Continuous nanofibers can be direct-deposited on and collected from the surface of the ocean. UNL and the PI are among the leaders of continuous nanofibers research and are well positioned to develop novel materials and processes suitable for rapid deployment and capable of producing significant impact on the long-term oil spill remediation. A bottleneck issue for the accelerated research and development in this area is unavailability of high-productivity nanomanufacturing equipment to produce quantities of nanofibers for rapid screening and optimization. The current processes including the processes utilized at UNL produce milligrams to grams of nanofibers per hour. This proposal requests support to acquire a new nanomanufacturing system capable of producing nanofibers with the rates 3-5 orders of magnitude higher.