IMPROVED MEMBRANES FOR ELECTROSYNTHESIS

COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE ION SELECTIVE MEMBRANES WILL BE MODIFIED TO MEET BETTER THE NEEDS OF ORGANIC ELECTROSYNTHETIC PROCESSES. MOST MEMBRANES UTILIZED TODAY WERE SPECIFICALLY DESIGNED FOR EITHER THE CHLORALKALI INDUSTRY OR FOR ELECTRODIALYSIS. AN ELECTROORGANIC PROCESS,HOWEVER, PLACES DIFFERENT REQUIREMENTS ON THE MEMBRANES. THE EXTENT OF TRANSPORT OF SOLVENT AND OTHER NEUTRAL MOLECULES THROUGH THE MEMBRANE INFLUENCE CURRENT EFFICIENCY, MATERIAL EFFICIENCY AND CONCENTRATIONS IN STREAMS FOR PRODUCT ISOLATION WHILE IT IS SOMETIMES ALSO NECESSARY TO UNDERSTAND THE COMPLETION BETWEEN THE MIGRATION OF TWO IONS. HENCE, THERE IS A NEED FOR ELECTROCHEMICAL ENGINEERS TO UNDERSTAND QUANTITATIVELY THE TRANSPORT OF IONS, SOLVENT AND NEUTRAL MOLECULES THROUGH MEMBRANES. THIS GENERAL PROBLEM WILL BE TRACKED BY EXAMINING THE TRANSPORT THROUGH SEVERAL STATE-OF-THE-ART MEMBRANES OF ALL SPECIES PRESENT IN SEVERAL VERSIONS OF A PROCESS FOR THE CONVERSION OF FORMALDEHYDE TO ETHYLENE GLYCOL. THE INFLUENCE OF SEVERAL ELECTROLYSIS PARAMETERS (CURRENT DENSITY, TEMPERATURE, ELECTROLYTE FLOW) WILL BE USED TO DEVELOP A WORKING MODEL OF MEMBRANE TRANSPORT. MEMBRANES WILL BE MODIFIED WITH THE OBJECTIVE OF MINIMIZING SOLVENT AND NEUTRAL MOLECULE DIFFUSION AND TESTED UNDER SIMILAR CONDITIONS.