Versatile membrane separation technology for organics dehydration in biofuels production and myriad chemical industry applications

本研究的主要目标是制备新型中空纤维膜，并分析新型膜材料在生物酒精生产和医药废物回收应用中几种重要原料中有机物脱水的性能。 由于水是许多商业上重要的化学反应的副产品或溶剂，脱水过程在化工、制药、食品和能源行业中广泛存在。然而，水的去除是一个高度耗能的过程，因为大多数商业脱水过程都是通过共沸精馏或吸附操作进行的。相反，通过膜进行脱水有可能减少资本投资和运营成本，最大限度地减少废物排放，并增加这一能源密集型过程的盈利能力。 将设计的新膜将能够在富水环境中运行，并在广泛的pH值范围内运行。在制备过程中，将在膜的活性表面添加特定的官能团，以改善其分离性能。根据其特定的性能结果，膜材料将进行反复修饰，以在通量和选择性方面获得尽可能好的性能。所有的实验成果都将伴随着全面的运输模型。试点规模研究，随后是商业植物设计研究成果的完整汇编，将标志着该项目的结束。 除了所有的技术好处外，拟议的研究结果还将潜在地为加拿大的生物能源部门提供经济推动，并为HQP的培训提供一个极好的平台，因为该项目获得的知识将帮助他们培养未来与加拿大化学工程行业的许多联系，因为这项技术的广泛适用性。该建议的核心是为6名不同级别的总部质检人员提供高级培训。

The main objectives of the proposed research are to fabricate new hollow fiber membranes and to analyze the performance of the novel membrane materials for the dehydration of organics in several important feedstocks observed in bio-alcohol production and pharmaceutical waste recovery applications. As water is a by-product or solvent in a multitude of commercially important chemical reactions, dehydration processes are widely encountered in the chemical, pharmaceutical, food and energy industries. Water removal, however, is a highly energy-intensive process as most of the commercial dehydration processes are carried out by azeotropic rectification or adsorption operations. Dehydration through membranes instead, has the potential to reduce capital investments, operational costs, minimize waste output and increase the profitability of this energy-intensive process. The new membranes to be designed will be able to operate in water-rich environments and over a wide range of pH-values. During the fabrication process, specific functional groups will be added to the active surface of the membranes to improve their separation characteristics. Depending upon their particular performance results, the membrane materials will be repeatedly modified so as to achieve the best possible performance in terms of flux and selectivity. All experimental achievements will be accompanied by comprehensive transport models. Pilot scale studies, followed by the complete compilation of the research results for commercial plant design, will mark the end of this project. Apart from all the technological benefits, the results of the proposed research will potentially provide an economic boost to Canada's bioenergy sector and also provide an excellent platform for the training of HQP, since the knowledge gained from this project will help them foster many future ties with the Canadian chemical engineering industry due to the wide range of applicability of this technology. The proposal, at its core, is designed to provide advanced training for six HQPs at different levels.