IEC 190 |
| Dibakar Bhattacharyya1, Aaron Hollman1, Leonidas Bachas2, and Noah Scherer1. (1) Chemical and Materials Engineering, University of Kentucky, 177 Anderson Hall, Lexington, KY 40506, (2) Department of Chemistry, University of Kentucky, Rose Street, Lexington, KY 40506-0055 |
| The development of separation processes with reduced energy consumption and minimal environmental impact is critical for sustainable operation. Membrane processes are finding wide applications ranging from water treatment to reactors to advanced bio-separations. The development of biomimetic, tunable, nanocomposite membranes provide added opportunities in permeate flux and separation selectivity control. Depending on the types of functionalized groups (such as, chain length, charge of groups, biomolecule, etc.), these membranes could be used in applications ranging from metal (or oxyanions) separation to chlorinated organic detoxification to biocatalysis. The use of microfiltration membrane-based sorbents containing polypeptides which provides nano-scale interaction is a novel technique to achieve high metal sorption under convective flow conditions. This was achieved by attachment of various polyamino acids (MW 2,500-20,000) directly on the membrane pore surfaces. The metal sorption results indicated not only high capacity but also rapid uptake rate. Metal sorption is extremely high (>10 meq/g for Pb) compared to conventional ion exchange (1-3 meq/g). High capacity is due to the availability of large number of ion exchange groups and the role of counterion condensation in addition to ion exchange. These membranes (with functionalized polypeptides for nanodomain interactions) are also used for obtaining nanofiltration type separations at pressure < 3 bar. For example, we have demonstrated 90 % separations of arsenic oxyanions with high water flux at pressure of about 1 bar. In addition, we have extended our studies to in situ-formation of nano-sized (25 to 40 nm) Fe particles by metal ion capture at high capacity followed by reduction. The authors acknowledge the support of NSF-IGERT,NIEHS-SBRP, and U.S.EPA STAR Nanotechnolgy grants for the support of this research. |
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Nanotechnology and the Environment
8:30 AM-11:55 AM, Wednesday, March 26, 2003 Convention Center -- Room 392, Oral
Division of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry |