Nanoporous Membranes for High Efficiency Organic Separations

Nanoporous membranes on thin-walled porous metal supports have some unique advantages compared to porous ceramic or polymeric supports. At ORNL, we have evaluated nanoporous membranes using a variety of materials with pore diameters as low as 1 nm that show high selectivity for the separation of complex liquid mixtures. ORNL nanoporous membranes can perform highly efficient liquid phase fractionation to separate and/or recover valuable products and simplify downstream processing.

Partial financial support is provided by the ORNL laboratory directed research program and the Bioenergy Science Center and is gratefully acknowledged.

The principal technical contact for this project is Dr. Ramesh Bhave, (865) 574-6025, e-mail bhaverr@ornl.gov.