A New Kind of Membrane for Separation Processes: The Hydrophobic-Hydrophilic Membranes (Expedited Award for Novel Research)

所提出的方法将允许设计用于特定用途的膜。 液体分离 两种不混溶聚合物的单体分散在 与表面活性剂（可能是嵌段共聚物）相互作用。 一个非常 使用更高的分散相摩尔分数，使得凝胶状 获得一致性。 然后将凝胶压在玻璃板之间 并聚合。 其结果是一个薄膜分离，有序 结构域，一些是疏水的，一些是亲水的。 单体还 选择成使得待从液体混合物中分离的组分 在分散在聚合物相中的聚合物相中是高度可溶的。 膜的 目标化合物不溶于其中的聚合物 使液膜结构完整，而聚合物 由分散相单体制得的膜具有非常高的渗透性 为了那个化合物 膜被阻止分解，因为它 被从溶液中除去的溶质饱和， 该聚合物构成原始分散体的连续相。 潜在应用的一个例子是地下水净化，例如 从受污染的含水层中去除苯。 人会用 苯乙烯作为分散相生产聚苯乙烯，其是高度 溶于苯。 连续相单体将非常 亲水性，例如N-乙烯基吡咯烷酮。 的 聚N-乙烯基吡咯烷酮将阻止聚苯乙烯域 因为它们被饱和了， 苯，但是苯通过聚苯乙烯域的通量 应该非常高。 许多潜在的重要 分离可以想象，如乙醇的分离 从水里。 如果这一进程取得成功，它将构成一个 一项重要的新兴工程技术的重大进展。

The proposed process would allow design of a membrane for a specific liquid separation. Monomers of two immiscible polymers are dispersed in one another with a surfactant (probably a block copolymer). A very high dispersed-phase mole fraction is used, so that a gel-like consistence is obtained. The gel is then pressed between glass plates and polymerized. The result is a thin membrane with separate, ordered domains, some hydrophobic and some hydrophilic. The monomers are also selected so that the component to be separated from the liquid mixture is highly soluble in the polymer phase which was dispersed in the membrane. The polymer in which the target compound is not soluble gives the liquid membrane structural integrity, while the polymer produced from the dispersed phase monomer has a very high permeability for that compound. The membrane is kept from disintegrating, as it becomes saturated with the solute to be removed from the solution, by the polymer making up the continuous phase of the original dispersion. An example of a potential application is ground water cleanup, such as the removal of benzene from a contaminated aquifer. One would use styrene as the dispersed phase to produce polystyrene, which is highly soluble in benzene. The continuous phase monomer would be very hydrophilic, such as n-vinyl pyrrolidone. The poly-n-vinyl-pyrrolidone would prevent the polystyrene domains from losing structural integrity as they became saturated with benzene, but the flux of benzene through the polystyrene domains should be very high. Many other potentially important separations can be imagined, such as the separation of ethanol from water. If this process is successful, it will constitute a major advance in an important emerging engineering technology.