Ultrathin polymeric interpenetration network with separation performance approaching ceramic membranes for biofuel

Abstract

in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com).Biofuel has emerged as one of the most strategically important sustainable fuel sources. The success of biofuel development is not only dependent on the advances in genetic transformation of biomass into biofuel, but also on the breakthroughs in separation of biofuel from biomass. The ''separation'' alone currently accounts for 60-80% of the biofuel production cost. Ceramic membranes made of sophisticated processes have shown separation performance far superior to polymeric membranes, but suffers fragility and high fabrication cost. We report the discovery of novel molecular engineering and membrane fabrication that can synergistically produce polymeric membranes exhibiting separation performance approaching ceramic membranes. The newly discovered Polysulfone/Matrimid composite membranes are fabricated by dual-layer coextrusion technology in just one step through phase inversion. An ultrathin denseselective layer made of an interpenetration network of the two materials with a targeted and stable interstitial space is formed at the interface of two layers for biofuel separation. The combined molecular engineering and membrane fabrication approach may revolutionize future membrane research and development for purification and separation in energy, environment, and pharmaceuticals.

Preparation and characterization of small molecular amine modified PVAm membranes for CO2/H2 separation

“…Membrane based CO 2 /H 2 separation process has been attracting more and more attention nowadays due to the wellknown advantages of low energy consumption, operational simplicity and low pollution over other gas separation techniques [5][6][7].…”

Evolution of ultra-thin dense-selective layer from single-layer to dual-layer hollow fibers using novel Extem® polyetherimide for gas separation

“…Instead of using the outer surface, Jiang et al employed the interfacial layer between PSf and Matrimid ® as the separation layer for biofuel separation. The inter-diffusion of highly miscible PSf and Matrimid ® molecules was the driving force to form an ultra-thin interpenetrated functional layer for separation [32].…”

Separation technologies for current and future biorefineries—status and potential of membrane‐based separation

“…Table listed out the commercialized hydrophilic membranes with multilayer composite structures formed by step by step casting method . Recently, several studies focused on thin‐film composite and novel dual‐layer coextrusion technologies for fabricating composite PV membranes . In the work of Chao et al., novel Thin film composite membranes were formed by interfacial polymerization with 5‐nitrobenzene‐1,3‐dioyl dichloride or 5‐ tert ‐butylbenzene‐1,3‐dioyl dichloride reacting with triethylenetetraamine on the surface of a PAN porous membrane.…”

“…Regarding the dual‐layer coextrusion technology in just one step through phase inversion, Jiang et al . reported Psf/Matrimid dual‐layer hollow fiber membranes that exhibited extremely high separation performance far surpassing the prior art of polymeric membrane and approaching ceramic membranes in t ‐butanol dehydration .…”