An official website of the United States government
Despite the emergence of eco-friendly solvents and scalable methods for polymeric membrane fabrication, studies on the impacts of solvent synthesis and manufacturing scale-up have not been conducted. To this end, a life cycle assessment (LCA) was developed with the goal of determining the global environmental and health impacts of producing polysulfone (PSf) membranes with the solvents PolarClean and γ-valerolactone (GVL) via doctor blade extrusion (DBE) and slot die coating (SDC). Along with PolarClean and GVL, dimethylacetamide (DMAc) and N-methyl-2-pyyrolidone (NMP) were included in the LCA as conventional solvents for comparison. The dope solution viscosity had a major influence on the material inventories; to produce a normalized membrane unit on a surface area basis, a larger quantity of PSf-PolarClean-GVL materials was required due to its high viscosity. The life cycle impact assessment found electricity and PolarClean to be major contributing parameters to multiple impact categories during membrane fabrication. The commercial synthesis route of PolarClean selected in this study required hazardous materials derived from petrochemicals, which increased its impact on membrane fabrication. Due to more materials being required to fabricate membranes via SDC to account for tool fluid priming, the PSf-PolarClean-GVL membrane fabricated via SDC exhibited the highest impacts. The amount of electricity and concentration of PolarClean were the most sensitive parameters according to Spearman’s rank coefficient analysis. A scenario analysis in which the regional energy grid was substituted found that using the Swedish grid, which comprises far more renewable technologies than the global and US energy grids, significantly lowered impacts in most categories. Despite the reported eco-friendly benefits of using PolarClean and GVL as alternatives to conventional organic solvents, the results in this study provide a wider perspective of membrane fabrication process impacts, highlighting that upstream impacts can counterbalance the beneficial properties of alternative materials.
more »
« less
Sustainable additive manufacturing of polysulfone membranes for liquid separations
Abstract Membranes serve as important components for modern manufacturing and purification processes but are conventionally associated with excessive solvent usage. Here, for the first time, a procedure for fabricating large area polysulfone membranes is demonstrated via the combination of direct ink writing (DIW) with non-solvent induced phase inversion (NIPS). The superior control and precision of this process allows for complete utilization of the polymer dope solution during membrane fabrication, thus enabling a significant reduction in material usage. Compared to doctor blade fabrication, a 63% reduction in dope solution volume was achieved using the DIW technique for fabricating similarly sized membranes. Cross flow filtration analysis revealed that, independent of the manufacturing method (DIWvs.doctor blade), the membranes exhibited near identical separation properties. The separation properties were assessed in terms of bovine serum albumin (BSA) rejection and permeances (pressure normalized flux) of pure water and BSA solution. This new manufacturing strategy allows for the reduction of material and solvent usage while providing a large toolkit of tunable parameters which can aid in advancing membrane technology.
more »
« less
- Award ID(s):
- 1922694
- PAR ID:
- 10486907
- Publisher / Repository:
- IOP Publishing
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Journal of Physics: Energy
- Volume:
- 6
- Issue:
- 1
- ISSN:
- 2515-7655
- Format(s):
- Medium: X Size: Article No. 015021
- Size(s):
- Article No. 015021
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
More Like this
-
-
Abstract In this study, loose nanofiltration membranes made of polysulfone dissolved in co-solvents PolarClean and gamma-Valerolactone were prepared via slot die coating (SDC) on a roll-to-roll (R2R) system by directly coating them onto a support layer or free standing. A solution flow rate of 20 mL/min, substrate speed of 17.1 mm/s, and coating gap of 0.1 mm resulted in the formation of membranes without structural defects. Pre-wetting the support layer with dope solution minimized shrinkage of membrane layer thickness and improved interfacial adhesion. Membrane samples produced using SDC exhibited properties and performance consistent with bench-scale doctor blade extruded samples; pre-wetted and uncompressed samples (SDC-3) exhibited the highest rejection of bovine serum albumin (99.20% ± 1.31%) and along with adequate mean permeability during filtration (70.5 ± 8.33 LMH/bar). This study shows that combining sustainable materials development with SDC provides a holistic approach to membrane separations to bridge materials discovery and membrane formation.more » « less
-
2-Methylpyrazine (2MP), a flavoring agent, was identified and used as a novel greener solvent for nonsolvent-induced phase separation (NIPS) fabrication of poly(ether sulfone) (PES) ultrafiltration (UF) membranes. Flat-sheet membranes were fabricated with 2MP-cosolvent blends, N,N-dimethylacetamide (DMAc), or dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), to investigate the influence of solvent choice on membrane properties and performance. The resulting membranes were characterized to assess morphology, productivity, and molecular weight cutoff (MWCO). In addition, kinetic and thermodynamic aspects of solvent choice on the polymer “dope” solutions during the NIPS process were examined. 2MP-cosolvent blends resulted in membranes with noticeably different morphologies, which arise from miscibility-hindered solvent–nonsolvent exchange during membrane formation. Membrane permeance was significantly lower for 2MP-cosolvent membranes when compared to DMAc and DMSO membranes; however, their MWCOs were clearly decreased. This initial study shows that 2MP is a promising greener solvent candidate for NIPS, and further investigations are warranted.more » « less
-
Purification of IgG from residual host cell proteins (HCPs) in post-Protein A chromatography is important since some HCPs bind with Protein A and elute with the monoclonal antibody (mAb); removal of HCPs from CHO cell lines is essential. To that end, an advanced separation and purification technique in biopharmaceutical manufacturing, namely, internally staged ultrafiltration (ISUF), is investigated here. Choosing BSA as a model for HCPs in post-protein A eluate, separation of a binary mixture of IgG and BSA containing 1.0 mg/ml IgG and 0.1 mg/ml BSA is successfully demonstrated here using a modified ISUF technique: two Omega 100 kDa membranes on top followed by one Omega 70 kDa membrane at the bottom. This modified configuration demonstrated exceptional performance with almost complete rejection, 99 % purity, and 99.5 % retention of IgG, along with 96.5 % recovery of BSA over 10 diavolumes. This modified membrane stacking resulted from strategic considerations of membrane stacking and careful selection of molecular weight cutoffs and materials, and performance analysis of different membranes and stacking configurations using rejection behaviors, purity levels, and recovery rates under varying diavolume and pressure differential. The approach adopted here enhances flexibility in membrane choices in ISUF and provides valuable insights for optimizing membrane-based biopharmaceutical separation techniques.more » « less
-
Polymeric membranes fabricated via the nonsolvent-induced phase separation process rely heavily on toxic aprotic organic solvents, like N-methyl-pyrrolidine (NMP) and dimethylformamide. We suggest that the “saloplastic” nature of polyelectrolyte complexes (PECs) makes them an excellent candidate for fabricating next-generation water purification membranes that use a more sustainable aqueous phase separation process. In this study, we investigate how the properties of PECs and their interactions with salt can form pore-containing membranes from the strong polyelectrolytes poly(sodium 4-styrenesulfonate) (PSS) and poly(diallyldimethylammonium chloride) (PDADMAC) in the presence of potassium bromide (KBr). How the single-phase polymer-rich (coacervate) dope solution and coagulation bath impacted the formation, morphology, and pure water permeance (PWP) of the membranes was systematically evaluated by using scanning electron microscopy and dead-end filtration tests. The impact of a salt annealing post-treatment process was also tested; these treated PEC membranes exhibited a PWP of 6.2 L m–2 h–1 bar–1 and a dye removal of 91.7% and 80.5% for methyl orange and methylene blue, respectively, which are on par with commercial poly(ether sulfone) nanofiltration membranes. For the first time, we have demonstrated the ability of the PEC membranes to repel Escherichia coli bacteria under static conditions. Our fundamental study of polyelectrolyte membrane pore-forming mechanisms and separation performance could help drive the future development of sustainable materials for membrane-based separations.more » « less
