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Transport of Small Molecules in Polymers: Overview of Research Activities

This article provides an overview of the research activities conducted by Benny D. Freeman and his team at the University of Texas at Austin on the transport of small molecules in polymers. Topics include gas and liquid separations, barrier packaging applications, and collaborations with other institutions and industries.

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Transport of Small Molecules in Polymers: Overview of Research Activities

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  1. Transport of Small Molecules in Polymers: Overview of Research Activities Benny D. Freeman (Brandon Rowe) Department of Chemical Engineering University of Texas at Austin Office: CPE 3.404 and CEER 1.308B Tel.: (512)232-2803, e-mail: freeman@che.utexas.edu http://www.che.utexas.edu/graduate_research/freeman.htm http://membrane.ces.utexas.edu March 2009 1

  2. Freeman Research Group Focus Develop fundamental structure/function rules to guide the preparation of high performance polymers or polymer-based materials for gas and liquid separations as well as barrier packaging applications.

  3. Freeman Research Group Profile • 21 Ph.D. students: • Gas Separations: Brandon Rowe, Victor Kusuma, Grant Offord, Tom Murphy, James Kyzar, Katrina Czenkusch, David Sanders, Zach Smith • Liquid Separations: Alyson Sagle, Bryan McCloskey, Hao Ju, Yuan-Hsuan Wu, Lauren Greenlee, Liz Van Wagner, Wei Xie, Dan Miller, Joe Cook, Geoff Geise, Michelle Oh • Barrier Materials: Richard Li, Kevin Tung • 1 Postdoc: Dr. Claudio Ribeiro • Sponsors: • NSF - 5 projects • DOE – 2 projects • Office of Naval Research - 1 project • Sandia - 1 project • Industrial sponsors: Air Liquide, Kuraray, Kraton Polymers, ConocoPhillips, Statkraft, Dow Water Solutions

  4. Collaborations • University of Texas: • Don Paul (Chem. Eng.), Roger Bonnecaze (Chem. Eng.). Mukul Sharma (Petroleum Eng.), Des Lawler (Env. Eng.), Andy Ellington (Biochemistry) • Prof. Eric Baer, Anne Hiltner, Dave Schiraldi (Case Western Reserve Univ.) • Prof. Jim McGrath (Virginia Tech) • Prof. Doug Kalika (Univ. of Kentucky) • Prof. Todd Emrick (Univ. of MA, Amherst) • Dr. Anita Hill (CSIRO, Melbourne, Australia) • Prof. Giulio Sarti (Univ. of Bologna, Italy) • Prof. Philippe Moulin (Univ. Paul Cézanne, Aix-en-Provence, France) • Prof. Young Moo Lee (Hanyang Univ., Seoul, Korea) • Prof. Toshio Masuda (Kyoto Univ., Kyoto, Japan)

  5. Spreading Water Shortage Science 313, 1088-1090, 2006 5

  6. Magnitude of the Problem • Over 1 billion people live without access to reliable drinking water. • 2.3 billion people (41% of the Earth’s population) live in water stressed areas; expected to increase to 3.5 billion by 2025. • Annual global costs in excess of $100 billion in medical costs and loss of productivity. Science 313, 1088-1090, 2006

  7. Why Chlorine is Used in Water Treatment • Bacteria-laden untreated water kills more than 3.4 million people every year in developing countries.1 • Un-disinfected water causes biofouling of desalination membranes. • Chlorine is the most economical disinfectant for deactivation of pathogenic microorganisms in drinking water. • Over 98% of all water treatment facilities in the U.S. disinfect water with chlorine and chlorine-based products. • But the problem is: • Chlorine degrades desalination membranes, reducing salt rejection and membrane lifetime. 7 1Houston Chronicle, Jan.8, 2005 www.americanchemistry.com/chlorine/

  8. Chlorine Attacks Desalination Membranes OCl- HOCl Chlorine as hypochlorous acid pH < 5.5 Chlorine as hypochlorite pH > 8.5 Membranes A-D: commercial polyamide membranes T. Knoell, Ultrapure Water, April 2006, pp. 24-31 8

  9. Current Desalination Process Feed water Chlorinate (0.2-5 ppm) Dechlorinate (Free chlorine < 0.01 ppm) Polyamide desalination membrane Rechlorinate (1-2 ppm) To protect membranes from chlorine Product water Desalination 64 (1987) 411; Desalination 124 (1999) 251 9

  10. Disulfonated Polysulfone Membranes Exhibit High Chlorine Tolerance 0 h 8 h 16 h 24 h 33 h Hydrophilic block Cross-flow pH = 9.5 Feed = 2000 ppm NaCl Pressure = 400 psig Flow rate = 0.8 GPM Chlorine = 500 ppm Hydrophobic block • High water permeability • High chlorine tolerance • Excellent fouling-resistance • Good reproducibility H.B. Park, B.D. Freeman, Z.B. Zhang, M. Sankir, and J.E. McGrath, Highly Chlorine-Tolerant Polymers for Desalination, Angew. Chem.-Int. Edit. 47 6019-6024 (2008) 10

  11. Potential Desalination Process Using Chlorine-Tolerant Membranes Chlorinate New membrane Feed water Product water • Extend membrane lifetime • Simplify maintenance and operation • Process intensification • Cost savings via elimination of dechlorination required by current membranes 11

  12. Research in Water Purification Appears to be Gaining Traction in the Scientific Community

  13. New Gas Separation Membrane Materials with Performance Better than Conventional Membranes Science, vol. 318, 12 October 2007, pp. 254-258.

  14. Science, vol. 318, 12 October 2007, pp. 254-258.

  15. Beating the Permeability-Selectivity Tradeoff for H2 Purification Lin et al., Science, 311, pp. 639-642 (2006).

  16. CO2 Selective Materials

  17. Using Nanocomposites to Enhance Membrane Separations

  18. Using Nanolayering to Enhance Gas Barrier Properties

  19. Student Contacts

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