Electrospun nanofiber membrane for membrane adsorption, membrane contactor and fouling mitigation in ultrafiltration

电纺纳米纤维膜用于超滤中的膜吸附、膜接触器和污垢抑制

• 批准号: RGPIN-2014-03753
• 负责人: Matsuura, Takeshi
• 金额: $ 2.55万
• 依托单位: University of Ottawa
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2017-01-01 至 2018-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=638019
• 关键词: Electrospun; nanofiber; membrane; adsorption; contactor

Nano-scale materials can be rationally designed to exhibit novel and significantly improved physical and chemical properties. Polymer nanofibers, an important class of nano-materials, have attracted increasing attention during the past decade.In particular, electro-spun nanofiber membranes (ENMs) have already been proven to be applicable in a variety of membrane processes for water treatment, such as MF, UF, NF, MD, FO, PRO, membrane absorption and membrane air stripping in the laboratory scale. The proposed project aims to widen the scope of the applicability of ENMs as filtration membrane for water and gas treatment even further. Water treatment by ENMs is now on the verge of commercialization. There are companies who are aiming at the commercialization of nanofiber membranes for water treatment (e.g. Xanofi, founded in 2010 in NC, USA). The proposed project will contribute to the future commercialization of ENMs by demonstrating a variety of novel applications of ENMs.Thus, the objectives of this research are:1) To fabricate and test the metal oxide nanoparticles incorporated electro-spun nanofiber membranes (ENMs) (hereafter called Mixed Matrix ENMs (MMENMs)) for the removal of arsenics from water by membrane adsorption (MA)2) To fabricate and test ENMs in membrane contactor (MC) application for capturing CO2 from CO2/N2 gas mixtures3) To fabricate ENMs aligned parallel for fouling mitigation and washing enhancement in ultrafiltration applications In the last few decades, arsenic contamination in natural water has raised significant environmental and public health concerns because of its high toxicity, accumulation in human body and carcinogenicity. Recently, the development of affinity membrane provided an effective method for arsenic removal under low pressure. In view of very high porosity and interconnectivity, a much higher flux is expected by ENMs when they are used in MA.Membrane contactor (MC) is a process in which gas and liquid flow on the opposite sides of a porous membrane; a gaseous component diffuses through the membrane pore from the gas to liquid phase where the gas is absorbed by the absorbent in the liquid. One of its applications is CO2 removal from natural and flue gas. Membrane contactor can provide contact area per unit volume 4 to 30 times higher than the conventional separation columns. ENM is an excellent candidate for membranes for MC for its high porosity and hydrophobicity.An observation was made recently during the development of metal oxide incorporated polymeric membranes; i.e. polymer nodules were aligned parallel, and very clear patterns were observed by the Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) at the membrane surface.It was also found that the membrane fouling could be reduced substantially when the feed flow was oriented perpendicular to the patterned lines, while membrane washing was effective when the feed flow was oriented parallel to the patterned lines. Parallel alignment of nanofibers in ENM will provide a perfect pattern at the membrane surface and thus enhance the above effects.

纳米材料可以被合理地设计成表现出新颖的和显著改善的物理化学性质。聚合物纳米纤维是一类重要的纳米材料，在过去的十年里受到了越来越多的关注，尤其是电纺纳米纤维膜已经被证明在实验室规模的各种膜处理过程中得到了应用，如中频、超滤、纳滤膜、MD膜、FO膜、PRO膜、膜吸收和膜吹脱。拟议的项目旨在进一步扩大ENMS作为水和气体处理滤膜的适用范围。ENMS的水处理现在正处于商业化的边缘。有一些公司正致力于水处理用纳米纤维膜的商业化(例如，2010年在美国北卡罗来纳州成立的Xanofi)。因此，本研究的目标是：1)制备和测试用于膜吸附(MA)从水中去除砷的电纺纳米纤维膜(以下称为混合基质纳米纤维膜(MMENMS))；2)制备和测试膜接触器(MC)中用于从二氧化碳/氮气混合气体中捕获二氧化碳的ENM；3)制备并测试在过去几十年中用于超滤应用的平行排列的ENM，天然水中砷的高毒性、蓄积性和致癌性已引起人们对环境和公众健康的极大关注。近年来，亲和膜的发展为低压除砷提供了一种有效的方法。膜接触器(MC)是一种气体和液体在多孔膜的两侧流动的过程，气体组分通过膜孔从气体扩散到液体，气体被液体中的吸收剂吸收。它的应用之一是从天然气和烟道气中去除二氧化碳。膜接触器的单位体积接触面积是常规分离柱的4~30倍。在金属氧化物聚合物膜的开发过程中，发现聚合物结节平行排列，原子力显微镜(AFM)观察到膜表面有非常清晰的图案，当进料方向垂直于图案线时，膜污染可以大大减少，而当进料方向与图案线平行时，膜清洗效果显著。纳米纤维在ENM中的平行排列将在膜表面提供完美的图案，从而增强上述效果。