PFI-TT: Prototype Development for Wastewater Separation Membranes

创新技术转化伙伴关系（PFI-TT）是一种新的绿色、无毒和生物衍生的膜过滤器水处理技术，具有更广泛的影响和商业潜力。这种新膜将用于为当地社区提供安全的自来水。膜过滤技术在水处理中已经应用了几十年，因为膜易于制造，使用简单，对杂质去除有很高的选择性，并且不需要再生。使用来自生物质的可再生溶剂制造膜，不与食品应用竞争，满足消费者和立法机构对可持续性的要求。该技术在工业和家庭用水过滤方面有潜在的商业应用。除了对这些庞大且不断增长的市场产生影响外，这一创新还可能在食物-能源-水系统和生态制造的联系中开辟新的方向。该项目将建立一种绿色无毒的工艺，利用两种环境友好的生物衍生共溶剂嵌入银纳米粒子，以创新的一步工艺制造聚合物超滤膜。研究目标包括：(1)在单一溶液中制备由聚合物、溶剂和银纳米粒子组成的溶液；(2)使用卷对卷工艺扩大膜的规模，(3)确定膜制造过程中产生的废水的纯度，特别是关于银纳米颗粒浸出的情况，以及(4)在连续/长期运行中操作原型膜，以确定去除全氟和多氟化学品（PFAS）的效率。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Partnerships for Innovation - Technology Translation (PFI-TT) is a new green, non-toxic and bioderived technology for water treatment using membrane filters. The new membranes will be used to provide safe tap water to local communities. Membrane filtration technologies have been used in water treatment for decades because membranes are easy to fabricate, simple to use, have high selectivity for impurity removal, and do not require the regeneration. The fabrication of membranes using renewable solvents derived from biomass that does not compete with food applications, satisfies both consumer and legislative demands with regard to sustainability. The technology has potential commercial application in water filtration for industrial and household applications. Apart from the impact in these large and growing markets, this innovation may enable new directions at the nexus of food-energy-water systems and eco-manufacturing.The proposed project will establish a green and non-toxic process of fabricating polymeric ultrafiltration membranes using two environmentally friendly and bioderived co-solvents embedded with silver nanoparticles in an innovative one-step process. Research objectives include: (1) preparing solutions comprised of polymer, solvent and silver nanoparticles in a single solution; (2) scaling up the membranes using roll to roll enabled process, (3) determining the purity of the wastewater produced during membrane fabrication especially with regard to the occurrence of any leaching of silver nanoparticles, and (4) operating the prototype membranes in continuous/long-term operation to determine efficiency in the removal of per- and polyfluorinated chemicals (PFAS).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.