SBIR Phase II: Ultra Permeable Carbon Nanotube Membranes for Forward Osmosis

这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）第二阶段项目将利用碳纳米管（CNT）孔的独特特性来开发专门为正向渗透（FO）应用量身定制的膜。与蒸发和压力驱动膜法相比，氧化膜法有许多优点：低能源成本、低机械应力和高产品浓度。阻碍FO广泛应用的主要问题仍然是缺乏坚固的优化FO膜。碳纳米管膜是FO应用的理想选择，因为它们提供了所有相关膜特性的改进：(1)改善了结构完整性；(2)高渗透率；(3)化学稳定性强；(4)结垢倾向低。最重要的是，碳纳米管膜可以在活性层中有足够的结构支撑，只需要最小的外部增强，就可以最大限度地减少浓度极化损失。本项目建立在第一阶段开发的制造和功能化方法的基础上，并将其大规模应用，以实现以合理的生产成本开发快速流动和高选择性膜的目标。这些膜的性能将通过模拟实际应用的实验室测试进行基准测试。该项目将提供一种创新的FO膜平台，在FO应用中表现出卓越的性能和稳定性。该项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力将是实现各种绿色技术，如可再生能源发电、废水再利用和节能海水淡化。尽管基于FO的工艺非常节能，但由于缺乏高性能FO膜，其商业应用受到阻碍。这个项目应该产生两个主要结果。首先，它将为开发新型FO膜平台提供坚实的技术基础，该平台将为现有FO膜架构提供卓越的商业替代方案。其次，碳纳米管膜的性能优势将为商业开发开辟一些应用。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will take advantage of the unique properties of carbon-nanotube (CNT) pores to develop membranes that are specifically tailored for forward osmosis (FO) applications. FO processes have a number of advantages over evaporation and pressure-driven membrane processes: low energy cost, low mechanical stresses, and high product concentration. The main problem impeding the widespread use of FO remains the lack of robust optimized FO membranes. CNT membranes are ideal for FO applications as they offer improvements in all relevant membrane characteristics: (1) improved structural integrity; (2) high permeability; (3) robust chemical stability; and (4) low fouling propensity. Most importantly, CNT membranes can be fabricated with sufficient structural support in the active layer to operate with only minimal external reinforcement, which minimizes concentration polarization losses. This project builds on the fabrication and functionalization approaches developed in Phase I, and applies them on a larger scale to achieve the objective of developing membranes with fast flow and high selectivity at reasonable production costs. Performance of the membranes will be benchmarked using laboratory tests that simulate real-world applications. This project will deliver an innovative FO membrane platform that exhibits superior performance and stability in FO applications.The broader impact/commercial potential of this project will be to enable a variety of green technologies such as renewable power generation, wastewater reuse, and energy-efficient desalination. Although FO-based processes are extremely energy efficient, their commercial use has been hampered by the lack of high performance FO membranes. This project should produce two main outcomes. First, it would deliver a solid technical foundation for developing a novel FO membrane platform that would provide a superior commercial alternative to existing FO membrane architectures. Second, the performance advantages of the CNT membranes would open up several applications for commercial development.