(65a) Materials & Materials Processing Opportunities to Enable Future Membrane Development

Roughly 50% of the papers published by the Journal of Membrane Science (JMS) describe a diverse array of applications ranging from electrochemically-driven to pressure and concentration-driven separations. The remaining 50% of JMS articles focus on topics involving the creation, characterization and modeling of complex morphologies and structures that enable ?membranes? to function in the above applications. This bimodal distribution of article types reflects the synergistic nature of the membrane science and technology field. Indeed ongoing expansion of applications relies upon an evolving spectrum of improved materials and ways to process these materials into novel forms. Besides separation devices, nontraditional applications like micro-encapsulation and drug delivery are emerging from this synergy. Porous materials used for removal of suspended and macromolecular components from aqueous liquids near ambient temperature were the first commercial products and still account for most sales of membranes. Many opportunities exist for further growth and diversification beyond these important but limited membrane applications.

Significant challenges, caused by global population growth, actually represent opportunities for membranes to enable sustainable development as growth places energy and environmental demands on available resources. Nevertheless, considerably more advanced materials and membrane structures beyond those currently available are needed to grasp these opportunities. Widespread expansion of applications of membranes into non-aqueous and more difficult micro-molecular scale separations is not only a materials challenge, it is a materials processing challenge. Meeting these dual challenges to create both improved materials and economical processes to produce membrane units from advanced materials requires an integrated chemical engineering approach. Reverse osmosis (RO) purification of water demonstrated the first large scale commercially viable membrane fractionation of low molecular weight liquid mixtures. Understanding how and why RO has largely displaced distillation in this large scale application reveals strategies to expand the energy-efficient membrane paradigm more broadly. This presentation will discuss a path forward to this goal.