Researchers from the Univ. of Minnesota have developed a more energy-efficient method of chemical separations that could revolutionize processes in the petrochemical and biofuels industries.
Professor Michael Tsapatsis and his team have developed a new method for creating high-performance membranes from crystal sieves, called zeolites. The method could significantly increase the energy efficiency of chemical separations over conventional methods and enable higher production rates. The researchers developed a rapid heating treatment to remove structural defects in zeolite membranes that limit their performance, a problem that has plagued the technology for decades."Using membranes rather than energy-intensive processes such as distillation and crystallization could have a major impact on industry," says NSF program officer Rosemarie Wesson. This discovery could increase the energy efficiency of producing important chemical solvents such as xylene and renewable biofuels, such as ethanol and butanol, she adds.
Tsapatsis explains that if technologically mature processes such as distillation continue to be used for the production of biofuels, the equivalent of 3% of the world's current total energy consumption would be needed for biofuel separations. Heavier biofuels, like butanol, are even more challenging to purify. However, membrane-based separation processes can eliminate all but a small fraction of the energy usage associated with this type of biofuel production.
Tsapatsis and collaborators are now working on making zeolite membranes 10 to 100 times thinner to allow molecules to pass through more quickly. They hope to eventually implement their treatment process with its beneficial effects to these membranes as well.
Source: Univ. of Minnesota