3D Printed Membranes for Desalination

Membrane technologies are currently the lowest cost option for desalination of water and purification of other liquid and gas streams. There is a need to develop continuous, precise, and smart manufacturing techniques that have the potential to lower the cost and facilitate the adoption of high-performance membrane materials and design architectures. Membranes are currently produced by large scale processes that result in “standard” materials that will be sub-optimal for many purification and separation processes. The ability to make small batches of custom membranes would enable improved process efficiencies by tailoring the membrane to the specifics of the application. Triton and our partner will demonstrate a process similar to 3D printing that can produce short- run, customized membranes for desalination and other purification and separation processes. This process offers the potential to tailor the membrane structure to suit each process application. The process enables independent control of membrane thickness and roughness with high resolution and precision. Membranes are formed with thickness controllable down to 4 nanometer increments and with roughness as low as 2 nanometers while still exhibiting good permselectivity relative to a commercial benchmarking membrane. In Phase I we will build a benchtop apparatus to fabricate membrane samples large enough to build industry standard 1812 size filtration modules. Performance of modules with 3D printed membranes will be compared with that of standard 1812 modules. The design of a scaled-up 3D printing process line will be done to demonstrate the feasibility of manufacturing industry standard 40” wide membrane sheets. This design will be constructed in Phase II. Commercial applications include desalination to produce potable water for human consumption, wastewater processing, and industrial purification and separation processes.