Purdue University School of Chemical Engineering Graduate seminar SERIES Dr. Benny D. Freeman Department of Chemical Engineering University of Texas at Austin "Materials Science Opportunities in Polymer Membranes for Water Purification" Tuesday, March 25, 2014 9:00-10:30 a.m. FRNY G140 Abstract. Polymer membranes are critically important to address urgent global needs in the 21st century for reliable, sustainable, and efficient access to clean energy and clean water. Such membranes have emerged as a leading technology to desalinate water (e.g., reverse osmosis and nanofiltration) and remove particulates (e.g., ultrafiltration and microfiltration), and they are being explored for energy generation in applications such as reverse electrodialysis and pressure retarded osmosis. This presentation focuses on two topics of interest for membranes used in water purification: (1) the fundamentals of ion and water transport in polymers and (2) fouling-resistant coatings for polymer membranes. For the first topic, structure/property correlations are shown for a variety of polymers, including uncharged and charged materials. The solution/diffusion model is described for water and ion transport. The role of free volume in governing diffusion of solutes through hydrated polymers is demonstrated. The existence of a water/salt permeability/selectivity tradeoff relation is shown for polymers being considered for such applications. Comparisons are made to similar physics governing gas transport in polymers. For the second topic, the ability of surface modification to reduce membrane fouling in ultra/microfiltration membranes used, for example, in treating flowback water from hydraulic fracturing is discussed. Membrane surface coating using dopamine solution, which undergoes polymerization under alkaline, aerobic conditions to form polydopamine, can improve membrane fouling resistance to oil/water emulsions. Results from initial studies demonstrating proof of principle through scaleup and deployment of membranes based on this concept will be presented. Recent studies on the structure of polydopamine will also be described as well as the impact of membrane testing protocols on fouling results. Bio: Benny Freeman is the Richard B. Curran Centennial Chair in Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin. He is a professor of Chemical Engineering and has been a faculty member for 25 years. He completed graduate training in Chemical Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, earning a Ph.D. in 1988. In 1988 and 1989, he was a postdoctoral fellow at the Ecole Supérieure de Physique et de Chimie Industrielles de la Ville de Paris (ESPCI), Laboratoire Physico-Chimie Structurale et Macromoléculaire in Paris, France. Dr. Freeman's research is in polymer science and engineering and, more specifically, in mass transport of small molecules in solid polymers. He currently directs 15 Ph.D. students and 2 postdoctoral fellows performing fundamental research in gas and liquid separations using polymer membranes and barrier packaging. His research group focuses on structure/property correlation development for desalination and gas separation membrane materials, such as new materials for water/ion separation, hydrogen separation, natural gas purification, and carbon capture. His group also studies reactive barrier packaging materials and new materials for improving fouling resistance and permeation performance of liquid separation membranes. His research is described in 350 publications and 18 patents/patent applications. He has co-edited 5 books on these topics. He has won a number of awards, including the Joe J. King Professional Engineering Achievement Award from The University of Texas (2013), AIChE Clarence (Larry) G. Gerhold Award (2013), Society of Plastics Engineers International Award (2013), Roy W. Tess Award in Coatings from the PMSE Division of ACS (2012), the ACS Award in Applied Polymer Science (2009), AIChE Institute Award for Excellence in Industrial Gases Technology (2008), and the Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program Project of the Year (2001). He is a Fellow of the AAAS, AIChE, ACS, and the PMSE and IECR Divisions of ACS. He has served as chair of the PMSE Division of the ACS, chair of the Gordon Research Conference on Membranes: Materials and Processes, President of the North American Membrane Society, chair of the Membranes Area of the Separations Division of the AIChE, and as Chair of the Separations Division of AIChE. He is a co-founder of Advanced Hydro, Inc. (http://www.advancedhydro.net/) Mrs. Karen Heide Forney Hall of Chemical Engineering Purdue University 480 Stadium Mall Drive West Lafayette IN 47907-2100 Phone: 765-494-4050 Fax: 765-494-0805 [http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~snpha/purdue_train3.gif]
