Collaborative Research: Quantifying the Role of Interfaces in Liquid Separation Membranes based on Carbon Molecular Sieves

合作研究：量化基于碳分子筛的液体分离膜中界面的作用

• 批准号: 2135662
• 负责人: Sergey Vasenkov
• 金额: $ 27.27万
• 依托单位: University of Florida
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-07-01 至 2025-06-30
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2135662&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Quantifying; Role; Interfaces

Fuels, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, water, and many other daily-use consumer products are manufactured from natural resources by a series of refining processes. The desired chemical compounds must then be separated and purified from the raw materials, which represents a significant technological challenge. Liquid-phase separations are particularly challenging and, as a result, have a large environmental and energy footprint that continues to grow. For instance, more than 1 trillion gallons of organic-loaded water are treated each year in produced water applications alone. This volume is expected to increase along with global energy production and continues to include growing contributions from biorefineries and biochemical plants. Carbon molecular sieves (CMS) are rigid solid materials with holes that are comparable in size to molecules of liquid compounds. The CMS materials can be used as sieves to separate and purify liquid compounds in an energy-efficient way to address these new challenges. However, the performance of CMS in separations can be less than desirable. CMS separation performance limitations are often attributed to various effects related to molecular transport at the CMS surfaces and interfaces. In this research project, the investigators will combine advanced experimental techniques to measure and understand the motion of liquid molecules within the CMS materials at different relevant length scales. The fundamental knowledge created during this project will enable the design of CMS materials for targeted chemical separations. The research program is integrated with an educational and outreach plan that focuses on increasing interest among and retention of underrepresented students in STEM. The goal of this research is to quantify and understand deviations from the desired separation performance often exhibited by freestanding CMS membranes and hybrid CMS membranes formed by dispersing CMS particles in a polymer. These deviations are often attributed to various non-ideal effects related to small molecule transport at CMS surfaces and interfaces. The investigators will combine advanced diffusion nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and macroscopic transport measurements to quantify transport at interfaces, including transport through CMS surface barriers and along low-density defects at the polymer-CMS interfaces in hybrid membranes. These findings will be used to create verifiable structure-transport relations, leading to new design principles of CMS-based membranes for liquid separations. The project will develop important fundamental knowledge of the role of interfaces in CMS-based membranes on liquid transport across an entire range of relevant length scales below and above one micrometer.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.

燃料、化学品、药品、水和许多其他日用消费品都是通过一系列精炼过程从自然资源中生产出来的。然后必须从原材料中分离和纯化所需的化合物，这是一项重大的技术挑战。液相分离特别具有挑战性，因此具有持续增长的巨大环境和能源足迹。例如，每年仅在采出水应用中就处理超过1万亿加仑的有机负载水。这一数量预计将随着全球能源生产的增加而沿着增加，并继续包括来自生物炼制厂和生化工厂的不断增长的贡献。碳分子筛（CMS）是具有与液体化合物的分子尺寸相当的孔的刚性固体材料。CMS材料可用作筛子，以节能的方式分离和纯化液体化合物，以应对这些新挑战。然而，CMS在分离中的性能可能不太理想。CMS分离性能的限制通常归因于与CMS表面和界面处的分子传输相关的各种效应。在这项研究项目中，研究人员将结合联合收割机先进的实验技术，测量和了解不同相关长度尺度下CMS材料内液体分子的运动。在该项目期间创建的基础知识将使CMS材料的设计用于目标化学分离。该研究计划与教育和推广计划相结合，重点是增加STEM中代表性不足的学生的兴趣和保留。本研究的目的是量化和理解所需的分离性能的偏差，通常表现出独立的CMS膜和混合CMS膜通过分散在聚合物中的CMS颗粒形成。这些偏差通常归因于与CMS表面和界面处的小分子传输相关的各种非理想效应。研究人员将结合联合收割机先进的扩散核磁共振（NMR）光谱和宏观运输测量，以量化在界面处的运输，包括运输通过CMS表面障碍和沿着低密度缺陷在聚合物-CMS界面的混合膜。这些发现将被用来创建可验证的结构-传输关系，导致新的设计原则的CMS为基础的液体分离膜。该项目将开发重要的基本知识的作用，在CMS为基础的膜液体运输在整个范围内的相关长度尺度低于和高于一微米。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得支持的评估使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准。