Engineered Osmosis for Sustainable Production of Water and Energy: Development of High Performance Micromolded Membranes

用于水和能源可持续生产的工程渗透：高性能微模压膜的开发

• 批准号: 1232619
• 负责人: Menachem Elimelech
• 金额: $ 36.99万
• 依托单位: Yale University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2012-09-01 至 2015-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1232619&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Engineered; Osmosis; Sustainable; Production; Water

1236619ElimelechEngineered osmosis systems have the potential to sustainably produce fresh water from seawater or wastewater by forward osmosis or to generate power from salinity gradients by pressure retarded osmosis. These membrane-based processes utilize the osmotic gradient that develops between solutions of differing concentrations, which are separated by a semi-permeable membrane, to effect a more efficient separation or to sustainably generate power. However, despite the potential of these technologies to address the global water and energy challenges, osmotically-driven membrane processes have yet to progress significantly beyond conceptualization. The major impediment to advancing these technologies is the lack of an adequate membrane, because the performance of current membranes is significantly hampered by the phenomenon of internal concentration polarization. Similar diffusion-controlled phenomena in other processes have been improved by introducing a convective component of mass transfer. Therefore, this work will take inspiration from the field of microfluidics, where mixing fluids on the micrometer length is of utmost importance, and fabricate membranes for osmotically-driven membrane processes with static mixer-like features to minimize the deleterious effects of internal concentration polarization. To achieve this goal, a phase separation micromolding technique will be used to fabricate high-performance membranes for osmotically-driven membrane processes. The research will also develop a fundamental understanding of how the mixer geometry impacts the overall mass transfer and membrane performance in order to optimize the membrane structure. The research addresses two of the major global challenges of our time: water scarcity and clean energy. Accomplishing this research will provide the scientific base and methodology to fabricate robust membranes that can find application in a variety of processes, including seawater and brackish water desalination, wastewater reclamation and reuse, and renewable power generation by pressure retarded osmosis. This work is also the first to directly incorporate static mixer-like features into the structure of asymmetric salt-rejecting membranes, with potential applications in a broad range of separation processes.

1236619消除电子工程渗透系统具有通过正向渗透可持续地从海水或废水中生产淡水的潜力，或者通过压力减缓渗透从盐度梯度中发电的潜力。这些基于膜的过程利用由半透膜分离的不同浓度的溶液之间形成的渗透梯度，以实现更有效的分离或可持续地发电。然而，尽管这些技术具有解决全球水和能源挑战的潜力，但渗透驱动的膜过程尚未在概念化之后取得重大进展。推进这些技术的主要障碍是缺乏足够的膜，因为目前的膜的性能受到内部浓差极化现象的严重阻碍。通过引入传质的对流成分，其他过程中类似的扩散控制现象也得到了改善。因此，这项工作将从微流体领域获得灵感，其中微米长度的混合液是至关重要的，并制造具有静态混合器特征的渗透驱动膜过程，以最大限度地减少内部浓差极化的有害影响。为了实现这一目标，将使用相分离微模塑技术来制备用于渗透驱动膜过程的高性能膜。这项研究还将加深对混合器几何形状如何影响整体传质和膜性能的基本理解，以优化膜结构。这项研究解决了我们这个时代的两大全球挑战：缺水和清洁能源。这项研究的完成将为制造坚固耐用的膜提供科学基础和方法，这些膜可以应用于各种过程，包括海水和咸水淡化、废水回收和回用，以及通过减压渗透产生可再生能源。这项工作也是第一次将类似静态混合器的特征直接结合到不对称拒盐膜的结构中，在广泛的分离过程中具有潜在的应用前景。