CAREER: Harnessing Mineralogy and Polymer Science to Elucidate Mechanisms and Mitigation Strategies for Mineral Scaling in Membrane Desalination

职业：利用矿物学和聚合物科学阐明膜淡化中矿物结垢的机制和缓解策略

• 批准号: 2145627
• 负责人: Tiezheng Tong
• 金额: $ 51.92万
• 依托单位: Colorado State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-07-01 至 2027-06-30
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2145627&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: CAREER; Harnessing; Mineralogy; Polymer; Science

Membrane-based technologies such as reverse osmosis (RO) are increasingly being utilized to provide clean water in the United States and worldwide under a rapidly changing climate and growing water scarcity. Currently, RO is the best available commercial technology for extracting and recovering clean water from a wide range of impaired water sources including seawater, inland brackish water, and municipal/industrial wastewater. However, the formation and precipitation of inorganic scales at the surface of RO membranes severely limit their water recovery and adversely impact the overall process efficiency and cost of water produced by RO desalination and water reuse plants. Compared to organic/biological membrane fouling, the mechanisms of formation and precipitation of inorganic scales at RO membrane surfaces are poorly understood as they involve complex chemical reactions and nucleation phenomena at polymer-mineral-water interfaces. The overarching goal of this CAREER project is to advance the fundamental understanding of mineral scaling at the surface of RO membranes. The successful completion of this project will benefit society through the development of new fundamental knowledge to advance the development and implementation of more efficient and cost-effective solutions to control and mitigate mineral scaling in RO desalination and water reuse systems. Further benefits to society will be achieved through student education and training including the mentoring of a graduate student and an undergraduate student at Colorado State University.Membrane scaling remains an important and unresolved challenge that limits the water recovery and overall system efficiency of commercial reverse osmosis (RO) desalination and water reuse plants. There are still critical knowledge gaps in the fundamental understanding of RO membrane scaling. First, the key physical/chemical processes and factors that control the extent of mineral scaling in RO membranes are not well understood. Second, the utilization of surface modification to mitigate mineral scaling in RO membranes has met with only limited success. Third, there is a lack of fundamental knowledge and principles to guide the design of antiscalants to mitigate the formation and precipitation of amorphous silica scales in RO membranes. This CAREER proposal will address these critical knowledge gaps. The guiding hypothesis of the proposed research is that polymers used as RO membrane surface modifiers or antiscalants can control the extent of mineral scaling by altering the thermodynamics and kinetics of scale nucleation events at membrane-water interfaces and the subsequent attachments of nascent mineral scales to membrane surfaces. Two key goals of the research are to: (1) Characterize and unravel the roles of scale nucleation thermodynamics, kinetics, and mineral-membrane affinity on the extent of RO membrane scaling and (2) Develop structure-property-performance relationships to guide and inform the design of scaling-resistant RO membranes and polymeric antiscalants to minimize and prevent RO membrane scaling. The successful completion of this project has the potential for transformative impact through the generation of new fundamental knowledge to advance the development of more effective strategies to control and mitigate membrane scaling in RO desalination and water reuse plants. To implement the educational and training goals of this CAREER project, the Principal Investigator (PI) will work with the Native American STEM Institute of Colorado State University (CSU) to develop and implement lectures and hands-on experiments for Native American high school students to learn about the critical science and engineering of challenges around water sustainability including the desalination of seawater and brackish water. In addition, the PI plans to partner with the ENpower Bridge program of CSU’s Engineering College to encourage and recruit students from underrepresented groups to pursue undergraduate/graduate education in Environmental Engineering.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

在迅速变化的气候下，在美国和全球范围内，越来越多地利用基于膜的技术（例如反渗透（RO））提供清洁水。目前，RO是从海水，内陆咸水和市政/工业废水等广泛的水源中提取和回收清洁水的最佳商业技术。然而，在RO膜表面的无机尺度的形成和降水严重限制了其水回收率，并不利地影响了RO脱盐和水再利用植物产生的水的整体过程效率和成本。与有机/生物膜结垢相比，在RO膜表面形成和无机尺度的降水的机理对聚合物矿物质 - 水接口的复杂化学反应和成核现象的理解很差。该职业项目的总体目标是促进对RO膜表面矿物缩放的基本了解。该项目的成功完成将通过发展新的基本知识来使社会受益，从而促进开发和实施更有效，更具成本效益的解决方案，以控制和减轻RO脱盐和水再利用系统中的矿物质规模。通过学生的教育和培训，包括毕业生的心理，将对社会获得进一步的好处。科罗拉多州立大学的学生和一名本科生。膜缩放仍然是一个重要且尚未解决的挑战，它限制了商业反向渗透（RO）脱盐和水再利用植物的水回收和整体系统效率。在对RO膜缩放的基本理解中，仍然存在关键的知识差距。首先，控制RO膜中矿物缩放程度的关键物理/化学过程和因素不太了解。其次，在RO膜中使用表面修饰来减轻矿物缩放的利用仅取得了有限的成功。第三，缺乏基本知识和原则来指导抗混蛋的设计来减轻RO膜中无形二氧化硅尺度的形式和降水。该职业建议将解决这些关键的知识差距。提出的研究的指导假设是，用作RO膜表面修饰剂或抗探测剂的聚合物可以通过改变膜 - 水接口的热力学和尺度核事件的动力学以及随后的邻近矿物尺度附着在膜表面上来控制矿物缩放的程度。该研究的两个主要目标是：（1）在RO膜尺度的程度上表征和揭示了尺度核化热力学，动力学和矿物膜亲和力的作用，以及（2）发展结构 - 绩效关系，以指导和抗性的ROMEMBRANES和PORMERCERCERCERANS ANTESCERES和PORMERCERIC ANTESCERANT和PORMERIMEC ANTECARTS的设计，以防止量表的量表量化量表。该项目的成功完成，通过产生新的基本知识来推动更有效的策略来控制和减轻RO RO脱盐和水再利用植物的膜缩放，从而有可能产生变革性的影响。为了实施该职业项目的教育和培训目标，首席研究员（PI）将与科罗拉多州原住民州立大学（CSU）合作开发和实施讲座和实验实验，并为美洲原住民高中生学习批判性科学以及围绕水可持续性的挑战的挑战，包括海水和毛水啤酒的脱水。此外，PI计划与CSU工程学院的Enpower Bridge计划合作，鼓励和招募来自代表性不足的团体的学生购买环境工程学的本科/研究生教育。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并通过使用该基金会的知识分子和更广泛的影响来评估NSF的法定任务，并被视为珍贵的支持。