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MEMBRANE TECHNOLOGY: OPPORTUNITIES FOR POLYHEDRAL OLIGOMERIC SILSESQUIOXANES (POSS) IN MEMBRANE-BASED SEPARATIONS
Citation:
Vane*, L M. MEMBRANE TECHNOLOGY: OPPORTUNITIES FOR POLYHEDRAL OLIGOMERIC SILSESQUIOXANES (POSS) IN MEMBRANE-BASED SEPARATIONS. Presented at POSS Nanotechnology Conference, Huntington Beach, CA, 09/25-27/2002.
Description:
Membrane Technology: Opportunities for Polyhedral Oligomeric Silsesquioxanes (POSS?) in Membrane-Based Separations
Leland M. Vane, Ph.D.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Research & Development
Cincinnati, OH 45268
Vane.Leland@epa.gov
A significant portion of capital and operating costs associated with chemical plants revolves around separation processes. As industries move to incorporate pollution prevention principles into their production processes and attempt to clean-up existing contaminated sites and waste streams, new cost-effective and energy-efficient separation technologies are needed. In addition, for process retrofits, these separation technologies must be easily integrated into existing plant designs. Membrane technologies can be utilized to separate, fractionate, and concentrate contaminants or process components. In general, they require minimal temperature changes and chemical addition, operate in either continuous or batch modes, use significantly less energy than traditional separation processes, do not alter the chemical structure of the processed materials, and are easy to integrate into existing processes due to their modular nature and compact size. As a result, the use of membrane-based separation processes will become more common in the future.
Unfortunately, most materials used to construct membranes have limitations with regard to common uses. For example, many polymers which might be used for water filtration membranes cannot withstand long term exposure to chlorine levels commonly encountered in water treatment systems. In addition, the irreversible attachment of foulants to membrane surfaces seriously limits the productivity and lifetime of membrane modules. In other applications, the sorption-permeation selectivity and flux offered by commercial membrane materials is not satisfactory. In this presentation, the opportunities for POSS materials in membranes will be explored with an emphasis on work at the USEPA on permselective pervaporation membranes to recover ethanol from aqueous solutions.
*This is an abstract of a proposed presentation and does not necessarily reflect U.S. EPA
policy.