Location
Cherry Auditorium, Kirk Hall
Start Date
2-2-2012 1:00 PM
Description
The shortage of energy and water resources is a grand challenge facing humanity in the 21st century. Engineered osmosis (EO) technologies have been increasingly investigated as an alternative means of sustainable water and energy production. These membrane technologies exploit the gradient of osmotic pressure between a dilute feed solution and a concentrated draw solution as a driving force for water treatment (forward osmosis) and electricity generation (pressure retarded osmosis). However, EO development has been hindered by the lack of appropriately-designed membranes that exhibit high water flux, superior selectivity, chemical stability and adequate mechanical strength. New membranes can be either developed through the modification of existing membrane platforms or through the fabrication of novel structures. At the University of Connecticut, we are using both approaches. Chemical modification of commercially available reverse osmosis membranes has yielded a 10-fold increase in water flux over unmodified membranes. We have also fabricated radically improved support structures for thin film composite membranes using electrospinning, resulting in a 5-fold increase in water flux over the best commercially available forward osmosis membrane. Further improvement in these membrane designs will enable this emerging separations technology.
New Membrane Designs for Engineered Osmosis
Cherry Auditorium, Kirk Hall
The shortage of energy and water resources is a grand challenge facing humanity in the 21st century. Engineered osmosis (EO) technologies have been increasingly investigated as an alternative means of sustainable water and energy production. These membrane technologies exploit the gradient of osmotic pressure between a dilute feed solution and a concentrated draw solution as a driving force for water treatment (forward osmosis) and electricity generation (pressure retarded osmosis). However, EO development has been hindered by the lack of appropriately-designed membranes that exhibit high water flux, superior selectivity, chemical stability and adequate mechanical strength. New membranes can be either developed through the modification of existing membrane platforms or through the fabrication of novel structures. At the University of Connecticut, we are using both approaches. Chemical modification of commercially available reverse osmosis membranes has yielded a 10-fold increase in water flux over unmodified membranes. We have also fabricated radically improved support structures for thin film composite membranes using electrospinning, resulting in a 5-fold increase in water flux over the best commercially available forward osmosis membrane. Further improvement in these membrane designs will enable this emerging separations technology.
Comments
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