Surfactant-Assisted on-Acid Interfacial Polymerization of Porous Polymer Membranes for Organic Solvent Nanofiltration

用于有机溶剂纳滤的表面活性剂辅助多孔聚合物膜的酸性界面聚合

• 批准号: 2300453
• 负责人: Lei Fang
• 金额: $ 36.66万
• 依托单位: Texas A&M University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-07-15 至 2026-06-30
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2300453&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Surfactant; Assisted; Acid; Interfacial; Polymerization

The industrial processes used to manufacture fuels and chemicals often include many energy-intensive separation steps to recover valuable products from the output streams. Current estimates of the energy required to perform these industrial separations range from 10 to 15% of total domestic energy consumption. Replacing conventional separation technologies like distillation with membrane-based filtration processes will reduce industrial energy demand and improve the sustainability of fuel and chemical purification processes. However, relatively few membranes can withstand exposure to harsh organic solutions and high operating temperatures. Existing methods for fabricating polymeric membrane materials have limited ability to produce the types of chemical structures and materials properties needed for organic solvent nanofiltration (OSN) applications. This project will explore a novel strategy to fabricate robust polymer membranes that can be used to reduce the carbon footprint of some of today’s most important and challenging industrial processes, including separating mixtures of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylenes (BTEX) and hydrocarbon fractionations. The project will provide opportunities to share the scientific concepts of membrane filtration with members of the College Station, TX, community through the university’s “Chemistry Open House” event. The investigator will also organize a four-day summer camp for regional high school students, where they will learn about the fundamental chemistry and physics of membrane materials. The central project goal is to develop a new strategy to fabricate crosslinked polymer membranes on nonaqueous acid interfaces. This goal will be achieved by elucidating the fundamental mechanism of the surfactant-assisted on-acid interfacial polymerization (SAAIP) reaction, and by addressing the technical challenges associated with fabricating high-quality membranes on nonaqueous acid interfaces. The research plan is motivated by the hypothesis that self-assembled surfactants on an acid interface can promote interfacial polymerization by enhancing local monomer concentration near the interface via electrostatic interactions. This hypothesis will be tested over three research objectives: (1) elucidating the electrostatic interaction-centered mechanism of SAAIP by varying key factors such as acidity, surface tension, self-assembly, and electrostatic interaction; (2) tailoring the kinetics and autonomously optimizing the reaction conditions for SAAIP to access defect-free, ultrathin membranes possessing the desired properties for nanofiltration applications; and (3) demonstrating the SAAIP-enabled unconventional nanofiltration performance for BTEX separation and petroleum fractionation. Successfully developing this on-acid interfacial polymerization strategy will expand the available chemical space for interfacial membrane synthesis beyond the current state-of-the-art aqueous interfacial reactions. As a result, membrane materials with new functionalities, enhanced stability, and the precise molecular selectivity required for OSN will be made possible. This project is supported by the Division of Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental, and Transport Systems’s Interfacial Engineering program and the Division of Materials Research’s Polymers program.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.

用于制造燃料和化学品的工业过程通常包括许多能源密集型分离步骤，以从输出流中回收有价值的产品，目前估计执行这些工业分离所需的能源占国内能源消耗总量的 10% 至 15%。传统的分离技术（例如基于膜的过滤工艺的蒸馏）将减少工业能源需求并提高燃料和化学品净化工艺的可持续性，但是，相对较少的膜能够承受恶劣的有机溶液和现有的制造方法。聚合物膜材料生产有机溶剂纳滤（OSN）应用所需的化学结构和材料特性的能力有限，该项目将探索一种制造坚固聚合物膜的新策略，该策略可用于减少某些材料的碳足迹。该项目将提供与当今最重要和最具挑战性的工业过程分享膜过滤科学概念的机会。研究者还将通过大学的“化学开放日”活动向德克萨斯州大学城社区的成员组织一次为期四天的夏令营，让他们了解膜材料的基础化学和物理知识。该项目的中心目标是开发一种在非水酸界面上制造交联聚合物膜的新策略，该目标将通过阐明表面活性剂辅助的酸界面聚合（SAAIP）的基本机制来实现。该研究计划的动机是假设酸界面上的自组装表面活性剂可以通过提高界面附近的局部单体浓度来促进界面聚合。该假设将通过三个研究目标进行检验：（1）通过改变酸度、表面张力、自组装和静电等关键因素来阐明 SAAIP 以静电相互作用为中心的机制。相互作用；(2) 定制 SAAIP 的动力学并自主优化反应条件，以获得具有纳滤应用所需特性的无缺陷超薄膜；(3) 展示 SAAIP 实现的非常规纳滤性能，用于 BTEX 分离和石油分馏成功地，这种酸界面聚合策略将扩展界面膜合成的可用化学空间，超越当前最先进的水平。因此，具有新功能、增强稳定性和 OSN 所需的精确分子选择性的膜材料将成为可能，该项目得到了化学、生物工程、环境和运输系统界面工程部门的支持。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。