SusChEM: High Throughput Screening of Anti-fouling and Anti-bacterial Coating Films

CBET-1337065埃里克M. V.霍克加州大学，洛杉矶围绕全球淡水供应减少的健康问题是众所周知的，新的生态，农业和地缘政治影响正在被认识到。甚至有人预测，到2025年，美国等发达国家将被视为“水资源紧张”。目前，聚合物膜技术是从非常规来源（如海水或废水）生产清洁饮用水的最先进方法。进料水被泵送通过高选择性塑料膜，污染物被排除：然而，由于被排除的污染物在膜表面上和/或膜孔内的积累，膜很快就结垢。大量的能量和水损失于膜清洁，其中频繁的渗透物反洗和用降解膜聚合物的刺激性化学品定期清洁，导致过早更换。该项目的目的是开发防污膜，以减少增加的能源需求和运行成本与水处理膜通过修改与化合物排斥或钝化污染物质的膜表面。膜表面改性在过去已经被证明，但大多数需要特殊的反应条件，长的反应时间，和/或昂贵的试剂，限制了它们的商业应用。该项目团队最近开发了一种新型的表面改性化学，将抗粘附和抗菌化合物共价连接到聚合物膜表面。该反应在室温和大气压下在水中进行，同时使用廉价的试剂和环境友好的加工条件。初步结果表明，商业RO和UF膜很容易修改的各种化合物。该膜保持其基本的分离性能特征，但具有显著改变的表面。结果是，通过改变改性化学和条件，我们可以调节细菌粘附到RO膜。为了确定最佳的防污化合物特性，将合成几种化合物，并使用项目团队先前开发的高通量筛选方案筛选防污行为。这些化合物将具有不同的静电荷、分子量和抗菌功能。商业膜将与新的表面化学改性，并评估其产生的生产力，污染物排斥，提高防污性和易于清洁。本项目将开发用于大规模水处理的新型抗污染膜材料。通过用不同的性质改性膜表面，将确定最佳的表面性质，以帮助理解导致水环境中表面污染和生物膜形成的机制。该项目的结果将提供一种有效的方法来大规模生产防污膜，以减少与将海水或废水转化为清洁可用水相关的能源需求和运营成本。

CBET-1337065Eric M.V. HoekUniversity of California, Los AngelesThe health issues surrounding the diminishing supply of global freshwater are well known and new ecological, agricultural, and geopolitical implications are now being recognized. It is even predicted that developed nations such as the United States will be considered "water-stressed" by 2025. Currently, polymeric membrane technology is the state-of-the-art method to produce clean, potable water from unconventional sources such as seawater or wastewater. The feed water is pumped through the highly selective plastic films and pollutants are rejected: however, the membranes quickly foul due to accumulation of rejected pollutants on the membrane surface and/or within membrane pores. A significant amount of energy and water are lost to membrane cleaning with frequent permeate backwashes and periodically cleaning with harsh chemicals that degrade membrane polymers resulting in premature replacement. The aim of this project is to develop fouling-resistant membranes to reduce increased energy demand and operating costs associated with water treatment membranes by modifying the surface of the membranes with compounds that repel or deactivate fouling materials. Membrane surface modifications have been demonstrated in past, but most have required exotic reaction conditions, long reaction times, and/or expensive reagents that limited their commercial application. The project team recently developed a novel surface modification chemistry that covalently attaches anti-adhesion and anti-bacterial compounds to the surface of polymeric membranes. The reaction is performed in water at room temperature and atmospheric pressure while using inexpensive reagents and environmentally benign processing conditions. Preliminary results demonstrate that commercial RO and UF membranes are easily modified by a variety of compounds. The membranes retain their basic separation performance characteristics, but have dramatically altered surfaces. The result is that by altering modification chemistry and conditions we can modulate bacterial adhesion to RO membranes. To determine optimal anti-fouling compound properties, several compounds will be synthesized and screened for anti-fouling behavior using High-Throughput Screening protocols previously developed by the project team. The compounds will have varying electrostatic charge, molecular weight, and anti-bacterial functionality. Commercial membranes will be modified with the new surface chemistries and evaluated for their resultant productivity, pollutant rejection, improved fouling-resistance and ease of cleaning. This project will develop new anti-fouling membranes materials for large-scale water treatment. By modifying membrane surfaces with different properties, optimal surface properties will be ascertained to help understand the mechanisms that contribute to surface fouling and biofilm formation in aqueous environments. The result of this project will provide an effective way to produce anti-fouling membranes on a large scale to reduce energy demand and operating costs associated with converting seawater or wastewater into clean, usable water.