I-Corps: Bio-inspired membranes

I-Corps：仿生膜

• 批准号: 1722795
• 负责人: Isabel Escobar
• 金额: $ 5万
• 依托单位: University of Kentucky Research Foundation
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2017-01-15 至 2018-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1722795&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Corps; Bio; inspired; membranes

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project focuses on new technologies for water treatment. Tap water from a central water treatment facility or a local well is generally of high enough quality to drink without further treatment; however, there are geographic areas where the water is either permanently or temporarily unsafe. Other needs include addressing water aesthetics that are not at unsafe levels but are not desired by the consumer. To enter this market a product needs to be differentiated and cost sensitive. In this project the team we will focus on evaluating the competitive landscape, identifying commercialization partners, and understanding the consumer needs in industrial and household application.This I-Corps project uses a new method to cast bio-inspired water treatment membranes. Aquaporin, a highly selective water channel protein, has received worldwide attention because of its potential to form aquaporin-based membranes with high flux and rejection for water treatment. The high water permeability and selectivity of aquaporins makes aquaporin-based biomimetic membranes attractive for water purification. In this project pores or channels specifically engineered in a pore-spanning biomimetic membrane to maximize water transport efficiency, compared to conventional polymer membrane filters. These bio-inspired membranes display higher contaminant rejection efficiency and significantly improved backflush cleaning effectiveness as compared to traditional membranes. This has the potential to decrease operating costs and increase the life of the membrane.

该 I-Corps 项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力侧重于水处理新技术。来自中央水处理设施或当地水井的自来水通常质量足够高，无需进一步处理即可饮用；然而，有些地理区域的水要么永久或暂时不安全。其他需求包括解决不处于不安全水平但消费者不想要的水美学问题。为了进入这个市场，产品需要具有差异化且对成本敏感。在这个项目中，我们的团队将重点评估竞争格局，确定商业化合作伙伴，并了解消费者在工业和家庭应用中的需求。这个I-Corps项目采用了一种新方法来铸造仿生水处理膜。水通道蛋白是一种高度选择性的水通道蛋白，因其在水处理中形成具有高通量和截留率的水通道蛋白膜的潜力而受到全世界的关注。水通道蛋白的高透水性和选择性使得基于水通道蛋白的仿生膜对于水净化具有吸引力。 在该项目中，与传统的聚合物膜过滤器相比，在跨孔仿生膜中专门设计了孔或通道，以最大限度地提高水传输效率。与传统膜相比，这些仿生膜具有更高的污染物截留效率，并显着提高了反冲洗清洗效果。这有可能降低运营成本并延长膜的使用寿命。