Objective
The ability to selectively extract compounds from waters will transform a multitude of applications, ranging from high-value compound isolation in industrial bioprocesses to removal of pollutants from the environment. However, current filtration technologies are reliant on physicochemical separation strategies requiring high pressure/energy inputs and cannot discriminate specific molecules. BIOMEM will develop novel biomimetic membranes harnessing the unique selectivity of biological transport proteins to facilitate the extraction of single compounds with exquisite specificity.
Our concept is to use the unique antiport characteristics of secondary active transport proteins, to move molecules, even at low concentrations, across a polymer membrane against their concentration gradient, deriving energy from the transport of another readily available ion down its own concentration gradient. A novel group of bifunctional polymers will be used to extract membrane proteins, together with their associated lipids, into nanoscale discs. These will then be embedded into polymer membranes which are otherwise impermeable to create membranes that are completely selective for the compound of interest. These bio-inspired membranes will be characterised to understand organisation and function of the membrane, to allow design and optimisation for custom compounds. The produced membranes will be tested for functionality in a proof-of-concept experiment to extract complex high-value oligosaccharides from bulk biomass and phosphate from wastewaters.
While initially focussing on those two applications, the separation technology developed will evidence the potential for “plug and play”, bespoke, selective membranes capable of transporting specific molecules through existing or bio-engineered transporters. The developed membranes will be fully scalable and operate at rates comparable to state-of-the-art nanofiltration devices, while simultaneously requiring around 50-75% less energy.
Fields of science
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques.
- engineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringwater treatment processeswastewater treatment processes
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesbiochemistrybiomoleculesproteins
- natural scienceschemical sciencespolymer sciences
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesbiochemistrybiomoleculeslipids
- engineering and technologychemical engineeringseparation technologies
Keywords
Programme(s)
- HORIZON.3.1 - The European Innovation Council (EIC) Main Programme
Funding Scheme
HORIZON-EIC - HORIZON EIC GrantsCoordinator
2800 Kobenhavn
Denmark
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.