| Groups. During the 1940s, ORNL began
developing improved separations processes to recover small amounts of plutonium from large
volumes of complex acidic solutions for the Manhattan Project. Over the years, ORNL has
diversified its expertise to encompass a broad range of chemical, physical, and biological
separation techniques involving many different materials. Technical Areas. ORNL possesses expertise in a broad
range of separation processes, including the following:
- Adsorption
- Bioprocessing and bioseparations
- Catalysis
- Electrophoresis
- Field-enhanced separations
- Filtration
- Fluid mechanics
- Inorganic membranes
- Ion exchange
- Photon-enhanced separations
- Radiochemical separations and processing
- Solvent extraction (including molten
salts and supercritical fluids)
- Thermal zone refining
Enabling Technologies. Separations processes
are usually complex, and their development and application require a number of enabling
technologies in which ORNL also has extensive capabilities. Most noteworthy among these
are the following:
- Advanced computations
advanced materials
- Fundamental physiochemical properties measurements
- Process
system design and analysis
- Robotics
- Sensors
and instrumentation
Partners. ORNL teams with industry,
universities, and other government laboratories on many projects. Examples of teaming
efforts in the separations and chemical processing areas include cooperative working
agreements with The University of Texas
Separations Research Program and The
University of Tennessee Molecular-Based Computations Program. The University of Texas
has unique pilot-scale research facilities and staff to support a broad cross section of
the chemical processing industry in the development of new distillation, extraction,
adsorption, and membrane separation processes. The University of Tennessee and ORNL have a
joint program to develop molecular-based computational chemistry capabilities.
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