HIGH SELECTIVITY COMPOSITE MEMBRANES UTILIZING FULLERENESS

A NOVEL GAS SEPARATION METHOD IS PROPOSED BASED ON COMPOSITE MEMBRANE UTILIZING NEWLY DISCOVERED FULLERENES. THIS NEW MEMBRANE WILL ALLOW GAS SEPARATION OVER A WIDE RANGE OF TEMPERATURES WITH EXTREME SELECTIVITY, AND AT HIGHER FLUX THAN PRESENTLY CAN BE ACHIEVED. THE NEW MEMBRANE MATERIAL IS INNOVATIVE. IT INCORPORATES THE KEY FEATURE OF A WELL-DEFINED FULLERENCE PORE STRUCTURE, THE THERMOMECHANICAL STABILITY OF A POROUS CERAMIC SUPPORT, AND AN EXTREMELY SELECTIVE THIN METAL LAYER. IN PHASE I, WE WILL DEMONSTRATE THE FEASIBILITY OF FABRICATING DOPED FULLERENCE THIN FILMS ON COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE CERAMIC MEMBRANES. WE WILL DEMONSTRATE THAT THESE COMPOSITE MEMBRANES WILL EXHIBIT A HIGHER PERMSELECTIVITY THAN CAN BE PRESENTLY ACHIEVED WITH COMMERCIAL INORGANIC MEMBRANES. THE PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL STABILITY OF THE PREPARED COMPOSITE MEMBRANES AT ELEVATED TEMPERATURES WILL ALSO BE INVESTIGATED. IN PHASE II, WE WILL DETERMINE THE SELECTIVITY OF THE COMPOSITE MEMBRANES USING VARIOUS GAS MIXTURES OF INTEREST, AND DETERMINE THE EFFECTS OF CONTAMINANTS ON MEMBRANE PERFORMANCE. ALSO WE WILL OPTIMIZE THE COMPOSITION AND FABRICATION PROCEDURES FOR DOPED FULLERENCE LAYERS, AND COMPOSITE MEMBRANE CONFIGURATION TO ACHIEVE BOTH HIGH SELECTIVITY AND HIGH RATES OF PERMEATION. WE ALSO WILL PREPARE A CONCEPTUAL DESIGN AND EXECUTE A PRELIMINARY ECONOMIC ANALYSIS. ANTICIPATED BENEFITS: THE SUCCESSFUL COMPLETION OF THIS PROGRAM WILL RESULT IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF HIGHLY EFFICIENT INORGANIC MEMBRANE TECHNOLOGY. IT WILL BENEFIT THE CHEMICAL PROCESS INDUSTRY AND U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENCE BY PROVIDING NECESSARY TECHNOLOGY FOR ECONOMICAL SEPARATION OF GASES, SUCH AS PRODUCING HYDROGEN FROM GAS MIXTURES OVER A WIDE RANGE OF TEMPERATURES.