Despite the successes and advancements, many challenges must
be overcome before membrane technology becomes more widely adapted. Technical barriers include fouling,
instability, low flux, low separation factors, and poor durability. Advancements are needed that will lead to new
generations of organic, inorganic, and ceramic membranes. These membranes require greater thermal and
chemical stability, greater reliability, improved fouling and corrosion
resistance, and higher selectivity. The
objective is better performance in existing industrial applications, as well as
opportunities for new applications. To
advance the use of membrane separations, research is needed to develop new,
more effective membrane materials and innovative ways to incorporate membranes
in industrial processes. Grant
applications must address the potential public benefits that the proposed
technology would provide, both from reduced energy consumption and from the
reduction in one or more of the following:
materials consumption, water consumption, and toxic and pollutants dispersion. Grant applications should also include a plan
for introducing the new technology into the manufacturing sector, in order to
access capabilities for widespread technology dissemination. Grant applications are sought only in the
following subtopics:
a. Membrane Materials with Improved Properties—Grant applications are sought to develop lower cost inorganic, organic, composite, and ceramic membrane materials in order to improve one or more of the following properties: (1) increased surface area per unit volume, (2) higher temperature operation (e.g., by using ceramic or metal membrane materials), and (3) suitability for separating hydrophilic compounds in dilute aqueous streams. Particular membrane materials of interest include nano-composites, mixed organic/inorganic composites, and chemically inert materials. Particular processes/systems of interest include membranes for the separation of biobased products, membranes for hydrogen separation and purification, membranes for CO2 capture, and membranes for industrial applications.
For industrial applications, high temperature separations of hydrocarbons and other mixtures are of particular interest. For example, low molecular weight hydrocarbons are separated from natural gas by condensing them as a liquid, and the liquid is distilled to fractionate it, or the liquid is hydrocracked to olefins. However, chilling the natural gas in order to recover the condensable portion and then reheating it is inefficient, because the energy used to chill it cannot be recovered. Membranes, either as stand alone systems or hybridized with other separation technologies, may provide an energy efficient means of separating mixtures at the high temperatures at which these industrial processes are carried out.
For all membrane processes/systems, grant applications must
be targeted toward the development of specific membrane materials for carefully
defined commercial applications; efforts focused on generalized membrane
material research are not of interest and will be declined. In order to assure the rapid
commercialization of the technology, especially for use by
Questions -
contact Charles Russomanno (Charles.Russomanno@ee.doe.gov
)
b. Biofuels and Bioproducts—Grant
applications are sought to develop membrane technology to enhance the production
of biofuels and large-volume, value-added chemical
products using biomass feedstocks. These
production processes may use either enzymatic or chemical catalysis, and may be
conducted in either aqueous reaction media or organic solvents. Grant applications must demonstrate a clear
connection to a crop-based feedstock and a large volume chemical product (one
that would be manufactured at greater than 500 million pounds). Of particular interest are (1) novel membrane
processes that use reactive separation technology, which combines the reactive
transformation with the separation; and (2) novel membrane materials with
higher flux or selectivity, and with improved chemical and thermal membrane
stability. Again, applicants are
strongly encouraged to form partnerships involving manufacturers, suppliers,
and end users, in order to promote and ensure the rapid development and
commercialization of the technology in the
Questions -
contact Charles Russomanno (Charles.Russomanno@ee.doe.gov)
c. Hydrogen Production—Hydrogen can be produced from coal, natural gas, biomass, and biomass
derivatives through the use of gasification, pyrolysis, reforming, and shift technologies. In all of these processes, the initial
product is a hydrogen-rich producer gas or syngas, from which the hydrogen must
be separated and purified. The most
common approach today involves the use of pressure swing adsorption (PSA)
technology. The use of membranes holds
the promise of reducing costs by combining the separation and purification with
the shift reaction in a reactive separation operation. Therefore, grant applications are sought to
develop improved hydrogen membrane separation and purification technology for
use in the production of hydrogen; the focus of the research should be on low
cost, high flux rate, durable membrane systems that can be integrated with the
shift reaction. Membranes of interest
include ceramic ionic transport membranes, micro-porous membranes, and
palladium based membranes. Such
membranes could be used for a wide range of production capacities, from large
central production facilities (50,000-300,000 kgs/day of hydrogen) to
small-distributed production units (50-1000 kgs/day of hydrogen). Grant applications must include a careful
analysis of the overall hydrogen separation efficiency, to assure that the
proposed membrane separation will maximize the hydrogen recovered by the
proposed process. Technology partnerships
with manufacturers, suppliers, and especially end users are encouraged, in
order to assure rapid commercialization of the technology in the
Questions -
contact Charles Russomanno (Charles.Russomanno@ee.doe.gov)
d. Industrial
Membrane Process Systems—Grant applications are sought to enhance the
separation capabilities of membranes used in industrial process streams. Proposed research should be aimed at
developing and commercializing innovative membrane systems, using new or
currently existing membranes, that can be robust when integrated within
real-world processes (e.g., inert gas removal, isomer separation,
aromatic/non-aromatic separations, sulfur removal, CO2 capture, and
removal of trace metals). Grant
applications should seek to address one or more of the following needs: (1) techniques for overcoming scale-up
problems related to contaminants in industrial streams (fouling, oil misting,
etc.), (2) manufacturing technologies that would reduce the cost of membrane
modules, (3) anti-fouling and anti-flux schemes to improve the long-term
operability of membrane systems, and (4) methods to regenerate membrane
performance and lower membrane maintenance costs. Also of interest is the integration of
membranes with other technologies (such as the integration of membranes with
distillation systems, or with adsorption or extraction processes), in order to
address specific process issues. For all
grant applications, the overriding goal is to enhance
Questions -
contact Charles Russomanno (Charles.Russomanno@ee.doe.gov
)
References:
1. Humphrey, J. L.
and Keller, G. E., II, Separation Process Technology, McGraw-Hill,
1997. (ISBN: 0-07-031173-0)
2. Sirkar, K. K.,
“Membrane Separation Technologies:
Current Developments,” Chemical Engineering Communications, 157:
145-184, 1996. (ISSN: 0098-6445)
3. Technology Vision 2020: The
4. McLaren, J., The
Technology Roadmap for Plant/Crop-Based Renewable Resources 2020, National
Renewable Energy Laboratory,
5. Vision 2020:
2000 Separations Roadmap,
6. Vision 2020:
Reaction Engineering Roadmap,
7. Nanomaterials and the Chemical Industry R&D Roadmap Workshop: Preliminary Results, sponsored by Vision 2020, NNI, and U.S. DOE Industrial Materials and Chemicals Program, October 2002. (Full text available at: http://www.chemicalvision2020.org/nanomaterialsroadmap.html. Link located under heading entitled “Nanomaterials Workshop Results”)
8. Biobased Industrial Products: Research and Commercialization Priorities, National Research Council Commission on Life Sciences, 2000. (Full text and ordering information available at: http://www.nap.edu/books/0309053927/html/2.html)
9. Vision for Bioenergy and Biobased Products
in the
10. Roadmap for Biomass Technologies in the
11. Developing and Promoting Biobased Products
and Bioenergy: Report to the President
of the United States in Response to Executive Order 13134, U.S. DOE and
U.S. Department of Agriculture, February 14, 2000. (Available at: http://www.bioproducts-bioenergy.gov/pdfs/presidentsreport.pdf)
12. Vision2020
Technology Partnership Separations R&D Priorities for the Chemical Industry, 2005. (Available
at: http://www.chemicalvision2020.org/)