SBIR Phase I: Optimization and scaling of ladder polymers for membrane-based gas separations

小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第一阶段项目的这一更广泛的影响/商业潜力旨在开发膜解决方案，以应对气体和蒸汽分离市场的机遇。如今，这一市场主要由能量密集型的热过程主导，这些过程具有很大的碳足迹，如蒸馏和吸收/汽提。目前的膜溶液往往缺乏许多应用所需的通量、回收率和稳定性。该项目将开发的膜是由新型聚合物材料形成的，这种材料在公开文献中报道的所有聚合物中具有最高的渗透性和选择性组合。如果将这些膜用于可再生和/或传统天然气净化的商业应用，与目前的商业膜相比，这些膜可以分别减少40%以上的能耗和80%以上的产品损失。通过这种方式，正在开发的先进膜每天可以节省高达200万美元的产品损失，这是目前商业膜系统燃烧的结果，既为客户节省了成本，又减少了环境足迹。这项研究还可以为其他气体和蒸汽分离市场带来相关机会。该项目的智力优势是从一类具有创纪录性能的新型聚合物中开发出气体分离膜。为此，这项工作旨在扩大聚合物合成的规模，形成薄膜，使用复杂的气体混合物测试开发的膜，并为市场应用开发优化的技术经济模型。这些目标对制造和商业化具有实际意义，但对于聚合物科学和薄膜形成的科学和技术创新也同样重要。此外，在复杂的混合气体中以薄膜形式测试这些材料将提供相关条件下的稳定性数据。聚合物放大和薄膜形成的研究对于完善资本成本的技术经济假设至关重要，而复杂气体混合物的测试对于完善关于过程能源成本和产品回收节省成本的假设至关重要。这些目标的实现将使与形成可用工业气体混合物进行测试和评估的膜组件相关的新创新成为可能。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project aims to develop membrane solutions to address opportunities in the gas and vapor separation market. Today, this market is dominated by energy-intensive thermal processes that have large carbon footprints, such as distillation and absorption/stripping. The current membrane solutions often lack the flux, recovery, and stability required for many applications. The membranes that will be developed in this project are formed from novel polymeric materials that have the highest combinations of permeability and selectivity out of all polymers reported in the open literature. If deployed commercially for renewable and/or traditional natural gas purification, these membranes could reduce energy consumption and product loss by over 40% and over 80%, respectively, compared to current commercial membranes. In this way, the advanced membranes being developed could save up to $2 million per day in product loss that is currently flared from commercial membrane systems, resulting in both savings for the customer and a reduced environmental footprint. Related opportunities in other gas and vapor separation markets could also be enabled by this research.The intellectual merit of this project is to develop gas separation membranes from a novel class of polymers with record performance. To this end, this effort aims to scale polymer synthesis, form thin films, test developed membranes using complex gas mixtures, and develop an optimized techno-economic model for market applications. These objectives are of practical importance for manufacturing and commercialization, but they are likewise important for scientific and technical innovation in polymer science and thin-film formation. Moreover, testing these materials in thin film form under complex gas mixtures will provide data on stability under relevant conditions. The research on polymer scaleup and thin film formation is critical for refining technoeconomic assumptions for capital costs, and the testing of complex gas mixtures is critical for refining assumptions on process energy costs and cost savings from product recovery. Accomplishment of these objectives will enable new innovations related to the formation of membrane modules that can be tested and evaluated with industrial gas mixtures.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.