Membranes Promise to Reduce Energy in Extracting Petrochemical Building Blocks
Outcome/Accomplishment
Researchers at the Center for Innovative and Strategic Transformation of Alkane Resources (NSF CISTAR), an NSF-funded Engineering Research Center (ERC) based at Purdue University, developed new polymer membrane materials for gas separation that promise to radically reduce the energy used in petroleum refining.
Impact/Benefits
The membranes promise to extract valuable petrochemical building blocks using far less energy than traditional, energy-intensive heating and cooling distillation. They advance the Center’s goals of meeting challenging conditions, including resistance to high temperatures, avoiding the swelling that destroys their ability to separate feedstocks, which results in highly selective hydrogen and olefin-paraffin separations.
Explanation/Background
Membranes are selective barriers that allow some things to pass through but not others—akin to sieves or strainers. Membranes that can separate petrochemical building blocks potentially offer low-energy consumption, mild operating conditions, tunability of membrane materials, and the integration of physical and chemical mechanisms.
Chemical production traditionally uses heat and cold to separate components from petroleum, accounting for perhaps half of energy consumption in the United States. Polymer membranes rely on the characteristics of the material to separate chemicals and could thus save much of the energy required, reduce maintenance, and require less space.
Location
West Lafayette, Indianawebsite
Start Year
Energy and Sustainability
Energy and Smart Infrastructure
Lead Institution
Core Partners
Fact Sheet
Outcome/Accomplishment
Researchers at the Center for Innovative and Strategic Transformation of Alkane Resources (NSF CISTAR), an NSF-funded Engineering Research Center (ERC) based at Purdue University, developed new polymer membrane materials for gas separation that promise to radically reduce the energy used in petroleum refining.
Location
West Lafayette, Indianawebsite
Start Year
Energy and Sustainability
Energy and Smart Infrastructure
Lead Institution
Core Partners
Fact Sheet
Impact/benefits
The membranes promise to extract valuable petrochemical building blocks using far less energy than traditional, energy-intensive heating and cooling distillation. They advance the Center’s goals of meeting challenging conditions, including resistance to high temperatures, avoiding the swelling that destroys their ability to separate feedstocks, which results in highly selective hydrogen and olefin-paraffin separations.
Explanation/Background
Membranes are selective barriers that allow some things to pass through but not others—akin to sieves or strainers. Membranes that can separate petrochemical building blocks potentially offer low-energy consumption, mild operating conditions, tunability of membrane materials, and the integration of physical and chemical mechanisms.
Chemical production traditionally uses heat and cold to separate components from petroleum, accounting for perhaps half of energy consumption in the United States. Polymer membranes rely on the characteristics of the material to separate chemicals and could thus save much of the energy required, reduce maintenance, and require less space.