Descrizione del progetto
Un nuovo modo di purificare l’acqua
Le nostre acque di superficie e potabili sono sempre più minacciate dai microinquinanti organici provenienti da residui industriali, agricoli e farmaceutici. Le attuali tecnologie a membrana, come l’osmosi inversa, hanno difficoltà a causa dell’intensità energetica e dei flussi problematici di rifiuti di salamoia. In quest’ottica, il progetto MOSAIC, finanziato dal CER, mira a ridurre la ritenzione di sale. In particolare, costruirà membrane a mosaico di carica con piccole zone di carica opposta. Utilizzando un approccio scalabile con multistrati di polielettroliti, queste membrane vantano una ritenzione di microinquinanti organici superiore al 99 % e un’elevata permeabilità all’acqua. MOSAIC non solo promette un’efficace purificazione dell’acqua, ma offre anche intuizioni fondamentali sul trasporto di massa di membrana per un futuro idrico sostenibile.
Obiettivo
Our surface and drinking water sources are increasingly threatened by the presence of organic micropollutants (OMPs). OMPs are small molecules (100-1000 Da) that originate from industrial, agricultural and pharmaceutical residues, and can cause long-term harm to humans and ecosystems. While OMPs can be removed from water with existing membrane technologies (e.g. reverse osmosis), these methods have significant limitations: they are energy-intensive and lead to problematic brine waste streams, due to their low water and salt permeability.
In this project I aim to solve these limitations by building charge-mosaic membranes; membranes with small (nm2) oppositely charged patches that allow coupled passage of negative and positive ions. This design, aimed at reducing salt retention, was conceived over 90 years ago, but was never realized in a scalable manner due to its challenging design. Here, I propose a simple and fully scalable approach to achieve such membranes, using polyelectrolyte multilayers (PEMs) of oppositely charged polymers. I will build these charge-mosaic membranes using ultrathin, ultradense layers in an asymmetric PEM approach to achieve a very high (> 99%) retention of OMPs and a high water permeability.
Combined with state-of-the-art modelling, this project will also provide new fundamental insights into membrane mass transport. Moreover, the project will directly lead to membranes with unique separation properties, allowing the design of completely new processes to effectively remove OMPs from waste water and drinking water.
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Campo scientifico
- engineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringwater treatment processesdrinking water treatment processes
- engineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringwater treatment processeswastewater treatment processes
- engineering and technologychemical engineeringseparation technologiesdesalinationreverse osmosis
- natural scienceschemical sciencespolymer sciences
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesecologyecosystems
Parole chiave
Programma(i)
- HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme
Argomento(i)
Meccanismo di finanziamento
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC GrantsIstituzione ospitante
7522 NB Enschede
Paesi Bassi