Replacing plastics and hazardous solvents in polymer membrane fabrication

Author / Creator

MATERIALS FOR HUMANITY (MH 21) (2021)

Conferences

MATERIALS FOR HUMANITY (MH 21) SYM C - Plastic Substitution II (2021)

Available as

Online

Summary

Membrane separations consume less than 90% of the energy required in incumbent industrial separation processes (absorption, distllation etc), and is widely considered as a green alternative for ind...

Membrane separations consume less than 90% of the energy required in incumbent industrial separation processes (absorption, distllation etc), and is widely considered as a green alternative for industrial separations. However, the manufacturing process of polymer membranes negates the green benefits of low energy. This is due to the mandatory use of oil-derived plastics and hazardous solvents e.g. NMP and n-hexane. At the Scale-Up Lab at The University of Edinburgh, we have deployed Green Chemistry concepts in tandem with additive manufacturing to imbue sustainability into polymer membrane fabrication. In this presentation, I will share with you key aspects of our work, including recycling plastic waste into high performance additives for mixed matrix membranes and replacing oil-derived plastics and overcoming the use of hazardous solvents in thin-film composite membrane fabrication.

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