(300e) Membranes for Selective Capture to Catalysis to Non-Traditional Applications

Membranes are often used for organic solute to salt separations in applications ranging from desalination to water reuse to environmental and biological applications. Traditionally, microfiltration (MF) membranes are used for pre-filtration to particle capture. But incorporation of nanostructured aspects with tunable properties (learning from life sciences, such as enzymes, and polypeptides) in MF type membrane pore domain has added immense value in the area of capture-based separations, nano-catalyst based reactions, water applications, and green synthesis. The development of catalytic and responsive, multifunctional materials and membranes for water and bioreactor applications requires a high level of control of both the characteristics of the base polymeric support layer, as well as its corresponding pore configurations. To maximize capture of solutes, such as, PFAS, toxic metal ions, high value capture of bio-relevant nanoparticles, etc,, pore configurations/thickness and volumetric porosity considerations are also important. Hydrophobic hollow fiber MF membranes can also be used, for water cooling also using VMD principle and smaller pore size HF membranes preventing water infiltration in pores, such as for spacesuit application in Mars. The presentation will include: (a) membrane (and thick filter) selection and functionalization approaches, (b) Applications to PFAS and toxic metal capture, and recovery of high value biotherapeutic nanoparticles, (c) in situ nanosized catalyst creation or enzyme incorporation in membrane pores and applications, and (d) extension to hydrophobic HF microfiltration membranes for interesting space applications. This research has been supported by NIH-NIEHS-SRC, NSF EPSCoR Track 2 grant, NASA, ATMUS Corp, and Southern Co.