A Research Agenda for a New Era in Separations Science

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Separations are important activities in trace chemical analysis, which is central to the chemical, biological, medical, environmental, and related sciences. In addition, separations processes are essential in the oil and gas, chemical, paper manufacturing, pharmaceutical, water treatment, and recycling industries. In these industries, chemical separations are expensive and consume large amounts of energy. Developing more efficient separation processes could reduce energy usage and have significant economic benefits to the U.S. economy. This award provides partial support for a National Academies of Sciences (NAS) study to develop an agenda for fundamental research in chemical separations science. The study is being conducted by an ad hoc committee with a range of expertise across academe, and the private sector. This study provides a comprehensive overview of advances made over the last three decades in the field of separation science and engineering, an assessment of the state of the field today, and a vision for future research directions. The study is focused on a molecular scale, with a cross-disciplinary view of the fundamental science that is common to both analytical chemistry and industrial-level separations. The study will result in a publicly accessible report that outlines a strategy for the next era of understanding and innovation in fundamental separations research, impacting applications in chemical analysis, energy production, waste management, water treatment, chemical manufacturing, recovery of critical resources, mining, and paper production. It is anticipated that the report may facilitate transdisciplinary research involving chemistry, physics, materials, and engineering. This project is co-funded by the Molecular Separations Program in the Division of Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental and Transport Systems, and the Special Projects Program in the Division of Chemistry.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.