Harsh Fluorochemical Separations

60311 There are economic and environmental justifications for replacing conventional distillation processes with simpler membrane separations in certain applications. However, at present, there are no commercial membranes able to withstand the aggressive conditions associated with important industrial chemicals, including hydrogen fluoride, hydrogen chloride, and ozone. Prototype, chemically resistant perfluorinated membranes have been developed and demonstrated to function with hydrogen fluoride and hydrogen chloride gases. Using these membranes, this project will demonstrate several useful separations that have been requested by industrial gas manufacturers. In Phase I, novel membrane formulations were tested and verified with HCl and HF aggressive gases. Chemical compatibility and high gas flux were measured. Phase II will construct and test commercial membrane modules from the formulations demonstrated in Phase I. The process will be scaled-up and the economic advantages of using these membrane separations for semi-conductor and hydrogen fluoride alkylation manufacturing will be demonstrated. Commercial Applications and Other Benefits as described by the awardee: Applications include purification of materials in semiconductor manufacturing, waste reduction, and recycling of corrosive gases such as hydrogen fluoride and hydrogen chloride in petroleum processing.