Membranes for gas separations - membrane distillation (IA)
Membranes separation is one of the key process elements needed for the next level of resource efficiency and for greener industrial plants. Proposals will address the development of the new generation membrane materials from gas separation to membrane contactors in comparison to the current state-of-the-art. Guidance by modelling and simulation techniques should be provided to save on extensive experimentation and support up-scaling.
Proposals should address at least two of the following activities:
- Advanced membrane materials for the recovery of valuable components (ammonia, phosphate, alcohols, reactants, products, catalysts) from aqueous, organic and mixed aqueous/organic process and waste streams to enhance the resource efficiency in industrial plants;
- Separating gas streams (e.g. CO2 utilisation processes) in the process emissions by using membrane technologies, where in addition to the produced product, other gases are in the stream (e.g. unreacted CO2 and hydrogen);
- Demonstrate the next generation of porous membranes for membrane contactors (membrane distillation, gas/liquid contactors, liquid/liquid contactors) with use of renewable energy sources (solar energy or waste heat) to achieve significant reduction in CAPEX and process costs of gas separations and distillation;
- Up-scaling the desalination process by solar powered membrane distillation systems by coupling membrane distillation with solar / photovoltaic collectors;
- New membrane materials to reduce the water footprint in industrial plants for the preservation of freshwater resources (e.g solvent tolerant reverse osmosis membranes, forward osmosis).
Proposals submitted under this topic should include a business case and exploitation strategy, as outlined in the introduction to this Destination.
This topic is open for international cooperation where the EU has reciprocal benefit, while excluding industrial competitors from countries where the safeguarding of IPRs cannot be guaranteed.