Membranes for highly selective separation and concentration of gasses

Membrane based gas separation provides an attractive route to the separation of several important gases as well as an opportunity to improve the environmental acceptability of a range of key industrial processes. This is due to a low energy requirement, low capital cost route to the removal of harmful pollutants from the process stream. Furthermore, membrane processes are typically modular and highly scalable therefore they can be applied to a wide range of applications from small scale portable oxygen generators to large scale industrial removal of CO2 from power plant effluent streams. However, improvements need to be made in the selectivity and rate. Mainstream is developing a range of membranes which mimic the selectivity of biological membranes. The rate of transport through the membrane will be enhanced by an innovative membrane design without sacrificing the selectivity. Moreover, Mainstream Engineering Corporation’s composite membrane are both modular and scalable as well as offering a route to significantly reducing the overall power requirements for the separations. Mainstream is developing highly selective membrane structures and composites for the separation of industrially significant gasses such as oxygen. Mainstream Engineering Corporation’s scalable and modular approach will be applicable to lowering the size, weight and power requirements of to a wide range of device from small portable oxygen generators to large industrial gas separations. Commercial Applications and Other Benefits: The goal of this Phase I proposal is to develop a highly selective separation of oxygen from air offering a path to significant improvements in portable and larger oxygen concentrators. Our platform technology can be applied to a wide range industrially important gasses by tailoring the chemistry and the membrane morphology to maximize the selectivity and rate of the separation. Our scalable and modular approach will be applicable to lowering the size, weight and power requirements of to a wide range of device from small portable oxygen generators to large industrial gas separations