SGER: Liquid Crystals as Stimulus-Responsive Media for Dynamic Mediation of Chemical Separations, Application to Carbon Mitigation

ABSTRACTProposal没有。项目编号：cts -0080915项目类型：研究员发起- sger首席研究员：T. Alan hatton机构：麻省理工学院项目名称：液晶作为化学分离动态中介的刺激响应介质本项目探索利用液晶作为吸附剂动态中介化学分离的新概念。对于这些材料，外部刺激的微小变化可以引起流体或界面结构的重大变化，从而显著改变分离介质对目标溶质的能力。具体地说，改变电场或磁场对近晶/向列/各向同性过渡区附近的热致液晶的影响被用来控制气体分离的能力和选择性。这项工作的目的是对这种方法的可行性进行初步评估，主要是确定影响增溶能力和释放曲线的因素，并确定该方法对温度波动的敏感性和稳健性。考虑了在大规模化学过程中实施这一概念的策略。可调分离介质可在解决与温室气体减缓有关的全球问题以及在精细化学和制药领域进行敏感的化学分离方面得到重大应用。快速动态变化电场和磁场的能力可以提供额外的工艺灵活性，而不是用于驱动许多气体分离过程的通常温度和压力变化，并且期望对工艺操作进行更大程度的控制。潜在应用的第二个领域是控制微化学装置的分离，其中亚毫米的尺寸使得高电场和敏感的温度控制可以很容易地实现。

ABSTRACTProposal No.: CTS-0080915Proposal Type: Investigator Initiated- SGERPrincipal Investigator: T. Alan HattonInstitution: Massachusetts Institute of TechnologySGER: Liquid Crystals as Stimulus-Responsive Media for Dynamic Mediation of Chemical SeparationsThis project explores new concepts for the dynamic mediation of chemical separations by use of liquid crystals as adsorbents. With these materials small changes in external stimuli can causemajor changes in fluid or interfacial structure that change significantly the capacity of the separations media for targeted solutes. Specifically, the influence of changing electric or magnetic fields on thermotropic liquid crystals near their smectic/nematic/isotropic transition regions is exploited to control the capacity and selectivity of gas separations. This work is intended to provide an initial assessment of the feasibility of such an approach, primarily in determining what factors affect solubilization capacity and release profiles and to determine the sensitivity and robustness of the method to temperature fluctuations. Consideration is given to strategies forimplementation of this concept in large-scale chemical processes.Tunable separation media could find major implementation in tackling global problems associated with greenhouse gas mitigation and in performing sensitive chemical separations in the fine-chemical and pharmaceutical areas. The ability to vary electric and magnetic fields rapidly anddynamically could provide additional process flexibility beyond the usual temperature and pressure changes used to drive many gas separation processes, and a greater degree of control over process operations is anticipated. A second area of potential applications is in the control of separations inmicrochemical devices, where the sub-millimeter dimensions are such that high electric fields and sensitive temperature control can be readily attained.