SNM: Scalable Manufacturing of Nanostructured Membranes for Fracking Wastewater Treatment

这个项目的目标是实现用于水力压裂废水处理的纳米结构膜的大规模、低成本制造。水力压裂废水中含油成分和重金属离子的浓度异常高，这使得传统的膜技术很难应用。纳米结构膜的进步为克服这些问题提供了独特的机会，但目前大多数生成纳米结构膜的方法仅适用于实验室规模的生产，本项目将探索可扩展的制造方法。纳米制造方法将是使用含颗粒悬浮液的卷对卷槽涂层（R2RSC）和薄膜复合材料（TFC）膜的卷对卷纳米压印光刻（R2RNIL）。本研究制备的纳米膜能有效去除含油污染物和重金属离子，同时又不失去其去除效果。除了水力压裂废水处理之外，提供清洁水也是美国国家工程院确定的一项重大挑战。处理水力压裂废水中杂质剖面的膜将广泛用于饮用水净化。该项目将通过现有的外展项目，如宾夕法尼亚大学的推进工程女性和明尼苏达大学的印第安人本科奖学金项目，为来自不同背景的本科生和高中生提供实习研究机会。该项目还将有助于课程创新，将纳米结构膜基分离纳入pi教授的课程中。该项目还将显著受益于与工业界和国家实验室合作伙伴的强有力合作。该项目的一项重要技术挑战是分离出高效纳米结构膜的关键特征，这种膜将独特地实现天然气生产中水力压裂水的再利用和回收。pi建议使用纳米结构双疏膜（重力驱动油+水分离），具有防污性能的纳米印迹膜（NIM）和具有增强选择性和渗透性的纳米复合膜（NCOM）的组合。该提案的智力价值在于与这些膜的制造规模相关的科学。为此，提出了四个具体方向：-利用R2RSC制造纳米结构双疏膜，以实现高效的油水分离，了解NPs在多孔表面选择性沉积的基本物理原理；-了解R2RNIL的加工-结构关系，以制备具有抗污染和抗结垢性能的纳米印迹膜。将进行实验和流体动力学建模，以设计纳米图案，最大限度地减少膜表面的污染；-了解导致R2RSC中聚合物/NP双层形成的关键参数，并了解随后聚合物进入NP渗透网络的纳米化过程。研究聚合物纳米蠕动的动力学和纳米复合膜的结构；-测试纳米结构膜的分离性能。压裂废水将分三个阶段进行处理，分别是采用纳米结构双疏膜进行重力驱动油水分离，采用纳米印迹膜去除溶解有机物和细颗粒，以及采用纳米复合膜去除重金属离子。

CBET-1449337Lee, Univ of PennsylvaniaThe goal of this project is to enable the large scale, low-cost manufacturing of nanostructured membranes for fracking wastewater treatment. Fracking wastewater contains unusually high concentrations of both oily components and heavy metal ions, making it extremely difficult to use the conventional membrane technology. Advances in nanostructured membranes present unique opportunities to overcome these issues, but most current methods to generate nanostructured membranes are suitable only for lab-scale production, and this project will explore scalable approaches for manufacturing. The nano-manufacturing approach will be to use roll-to-roll slot coating (R2RSC) of particle-containing suspensions and nanoimprinting of thin film composite (TFC) membranes using roll-to-roll nanoimprinting lithography (R2RNIL). Nanostructured membranes to be manufactured in this study will efficiently remove oily contaminants and heavy metal ions without losing their efficacy. In addition to fracking wastewater treatment, providing access to clean water is a Grand Challenge identified by the National Academy of Engineering. Membranes that handle the impurity profiles in fracking wastewater will be widely useful for potable water purification. The project will provide internship research opportunities to undergraduate and high school students from diverse background through existing outreach programs such as Advancing Women in Engineering at University of Pennsylvania and Native American Undergraduate Fellowship program at University of Minnesota. The project will also contribute to curriculum innovations that incorporate nanostructured membrane-based separations into courses that are taught by the PIs. The project will also significantly benefit from strong collaborations with partners in industry and national laboratory. An important technical challenge in the project is to isolate the key features that provide for high-efficiency nanostructured membranes that will uniquely enable the reuse and reclamation of fracking water in natural gas production. The PIs propose using a combination of nanostructured amphiphobic membranes (gravity driven oil + water separation) , (NAM) nano imprinted membranes (NIM) with anti-fouling properties, and nanocomposite membranes (NCOM) that have enhanced selectivity and permeability. The intellectual merit of the proposal lies with the science associated with the scale up of the manufacturing of these membranes. Toward this end, four specific directions are proposed: - To understand the fundamental physics of selective deposition of NPs on porous surfaces using R2RSC to manufacture nanostructured amphiphobic membranes for efficient oil/water separation; - To understand processing-structure relationship of R2RNIL to manufacture nanoimprinted membranes with anti-fouling and anti- scaling properties. Experiments and hydrodynamic modeling to design nanopatterns that minimize fouling of membrane surface will be performed; - To understand the critical parameters that lead to the formation of polymer/NP bilayer in R2RSC and to understand the subsequent nanowicking of polymer into the percolating network of NPs. The dynamics of polymer nanowicking and the structure of nanocomposite membranes will be investigated; and, - To test the separation performance of nanostructured membranes. Fracking wastewater will be treated in three stages involving gravity-driven oil/water separation using nanostructured amphiphobic membranes, dissolved organic matter and fine particle removal using nanoimprinted membranes, and nanocomposite membranes-based heavy metal ion removal.