Development of highly efficient Aquaporin based membranes for Aqueous Separations

水分离工艺越来越多地用于水和废水处理以及医疗、工业和市政应用，如透析、高质量水制备、乙醇浓缩、果汁和香气浓缩。反渗透（RO）是一种压力驱动的水分离工艺，其使用受到现有膜的低生产率和维持操作压力的高能耗的限制。本提案的主要目标是发展先进的反渗透膜（ROM）技术用于水和废水处理。该研究的总体假设是，通过将生物水通道蛋白（Aquaporins或AQPs）掺入合成聚合物中，可以开发出高效的溶质排斥渗透膜。本研究主要包括两项研究任务。在第一个任务中，将优化AqpZ插入ABA聚合物的渗透率、选择性和稳定性。在第二项任务中，将合成和表征模板扁平AqpZ-ABA膜。该项目将促进对疏水纳米孔中运输的认识，该孔具有高效气体和液体分离的巨大潜力，并将加强对自组装仿生超分子材料中蛋白质插入行为和运输特性的理解。它还将有助于开发使用模板聚合物的蛋白质二维结晶程序。这种新的ROM技术的成功开发可能会在水和废水处理之外有广泛的应用，包括药物输送系统，化学过程工业中的气体和液体分离系统。该项目有国际合作，包括在瑞士的研究生教育，以学习先进的聚合物合成。本科生将通过大学暑期研究机会计划参与该项目。将通过芝加哥的McWest项目努力招收少数族裔高中学生。PI还参与了芝加哥的McWest项目，向高中生讲授工程方面的职业机会。

CBET- 0828512ClarkAqueous separation processes are increasingly used for water and wastewater treatment and for medical, industrial, and municipal applications such as dialysis, high-quality water preparation, ethanol concentration, and juice and aroma concentration. The use of reverse osmosis (RO), a pressure-driven aqueous separation processes, is limited by low productivities of existing membranes and the high energy consumption for maintaining operating pressures. The principal objective of this proposal is to develop advanced reverse osmosis membrane (ROM) technology for water and wastewater treatment. The overall hypothesis of the proposed study is that highly efficient solute-rejecting osmotic membranes can be developed by incorporating biological water-channel proteins (Aquaporins or AQPs) into synthetic polymers. The proposed research consists of two major research tasks. In the first task insertion of AqpZ into ABA polymers will be optimized in terms of permeability, selectivity, and stability. In the second task, templated flat AqpZ-ABA membranes will be synthesized and characterized. The project will advance knowledge of transport in hydrophobic nanopores which has great potential for efficient gas and liquid separations and will enhance understanding of protein insertion behavior and transport properties in self-assembled biomimetic supramolecular materials. It will also help develop procedures for 2D crystallization of proteins using templating polymers.Successful development of this new ROM technology may have broad applications beyond water and wastewater treatment, including drug delivery systems, and gas and liquid separations systems in the chemical process industry. There is international collaboration on the project including graduate student education in Switzerland to learn advanced polymer synthesis. Undergraduate students will be involved in the project through the College Summer Research Opportunity program. An effort will be made to recruit minority high school students through the McWest program in Chicago. The PI is also involved with the McWest programs in Chicago lecturing high school students about career opportunities in engineering.