Hydrometallurgical processing of metal-bearing ores appears to be a potential solution to the problems caused by the declining grade of domestic ores, increased energy costs, and environmental concerns. however, a key cost element in any hydrometallurgical process is the separation and concentration… More

The development of a membrane vapor concentration device is proposed. the device would be used to concentrate trace organic vapors in air prior to introduction to a detector instrument. in this way, the complexity and cost of the instrumentation required to detect vapors emitted from hidden… More

Hydrogen produced from hydrocarbon fuels must be purified before it can be used to power phosphoric acid or carbonate fuel cells. typically, these hydrogen streams contain less than 80% hydrogen together with carbon monoxide, methane, carbon dioxide, and various sulfur gases. for efficient fuel cell… More

Current clothing issued to air force workers does not provide protection to those exposed to hazardous environments. development of a new composite fabric material is proposed for this application. the proposed material is a three-layer composite structure consisting of a non-woven polyester fabric… More

The annual u.s. production of oxygen and nitrogen is 20 million tons each. almost all of these gases are produced bycryogenic fractionation, a high cost and energy demanding process. membrane separation from air is a potential low cost alternative process; however, conventional membranes are… More

Maintainance of a habitable atmosphere on board a manned spacecraft requires removal of carbon dioxide produced by crew respiration. we propose to develop membranes and modules able to separate c02 from air. to make the process energy efficient and compact, the membranes will be high flux composite… More

Gas separation membranes are finding a number of industrial uses. however, a breakthrough in membrane selectivity and permeability will be required before membranes will be able to displace more conventional techniques on a large scale. the plan is to prepare plasma-coated composite membranes that… More

Methadone hydrochloride is widelu used in drug treatment of heroin addicts and effectively relieves the craving for heroin. however, methadone is itself addictive and a drug of abuse. as a result, diversion of methadone to the black market by patients is a serious problem, and the drug cannotusually… More

Smoking has been determined to be the cause of approximately30 percent of all cancer deaths. but it is very hard to stop smoking, and only a fraction of the individuals who trysucceed. in recent years the use of nicotine-containing chewing gums has been found beneficial in smoking cessation… More

The development of a controlled release system to deliver antibiotic drugs to the periodontal pocket is proposed. this system could result in improved treatment of periodontal disease. the system consists of antibiotic containing microparticles, 100 in diameter, formulated as a suspension in a… More

Hydrazine, monomethyl hydrazine, and nitrogen tetroxide are toxic components of rocket fuels, and better methods of treating vapors released during transfer operations or from accidental spills are required. this proposal describes thetreatment of these emissions through use of composite combranes… More

Toxic vapors such as hydrogen cyanide, cyanogen chloride, phosgene and nerve agent gb may be encountered by troops under attack by chemical warfare agents. better methods of removing these vapors from air are required. this proposal describes the treatment of these vapors through the use of… More

The proposal describes a membrane-based heat pipe system that offers a number of advantages over conventional heat pipes. in particular, the heat transfer capabilities of theproposed system are very high, on the order of 1-10 kilowatts/hr. the system can also transport the heat long distances in… More

Membrane gss separation systems are being used in a number of commercially significant industrial processes. however, widespread use is limited by the modest selectivity and flux of current membranes. this proposal describes the preparation of interfacial composite membranes by a novel technique.… More

Organic solvent-containing effluent streams streams repre- sent a serious water pollution problem. the investigators will apply a new membrane process called pervaporation to treat these streams. pervaporation is capable of selective-ly removing organic solvents, even in low concentrations, from… More

A reliable method of extracting dissolved oxygen from seawater is required for a number of naval applications. this proposal describes the development of a membrane system to perform this separation. in this system, seawater containing dissolved air is brought in contact with a suitable selective… More

Orgnaic vapor-laden industrial airstreams are a growing pol-lution problem and a waste of resources. the methods now available for treating these airstreams are inadequate, especially where chlorofluorocarbon solvents are involved. the use of membranes to recover organic vapors from contami-nated… More

Pervaporation is a promising new membrane process for the separation of solvent mixtures. membrane technology and research, inc., has been developing pervaporation systems for the past three years using thin-film composite membranesin spiral-wound membrane modules. they propose to develop improved… More

Current methods of flue gas treatment to remove so2 and nox are complex and expensive, and generally are not applicable to small-scale combustors. gas separation membranes appear to be an attractive new technique that could lead to a breakthrough in treatment costs. a new membrane material and… More

In the event of war, it is likely that toxic vapors may be encountered by troops under attack. this proposal describes the use of a membrane system able to selectively remove oxygen from feed air. with a suitable membrane, it is possible to produce a permeate gas containing 25-30 vol% oxygen and… More

The objective of this project is to develop a membrane process for the separation and recovery of hydrocarbons such as ethane, propane, butane, and pentane from natural gas streams. these higher hydrocarbons have a significant value as chemical feed stock; often, they must be removed tocontrol the… More

Advanced flue gas clean-up technologies produce so2 and nox streams containing 50 - 90% so2. the so2 contained in thesestreams is expensive to convert to useful products. this proposal describes a membrane-condensation process that fractionates the original stream into two streams. one stream is… More

The objective of the proposed program is to develop a membrane process for the separation of water from natural gas streams. virtually all natural gas produced must be treated to remove water vapor prior to entering the pipeline. current dehydration techniques are energy-intensive and are unsuited… More

Approximately 1.3 million tons of hydrocarbon vapors are released annually in petroleum storage and transfer operations. this proposal describes the design and laboratory demonstration of a pilot membrane system able to concentrate and recover these vapors from storage tank off gases. in the phase i… More

This proposal describes the development of advanced permselective/ sorptive fabrics based on sorbent-loaded, permselective membranes. a microporous polymer film with asymmetric pores loaded with sorbent particles forms the base for a thin, dense film of permselective polymer material. the… More

Membrane diffusion is inherently slow process. consequently,membrane-based separation processes can only be economicallyviable if extremely thin, defect-free membranes are used. thin-film composite membranes with a permselective layer thickness down to about 0.5 um can be made by presently available… More

This program focuses on the preparation technique of a new type of ultrathin metal membrane made by a metal sputtering technique. previous results obtained at membrane technology and research, inc. (mtr) suggest these membranes may have remarkable properties. the membranes are extremely thin, in the… More

Carbon adsorption is a widely used technique to remove and concentrate vocs from diluted air and water streams. periodically carbon beds are regenerated with steam. the results of this regeneration after cooling, is a concentrated mixture of hazardous compounds and water. common and particularly… More

Cfcs emitted as purge streams form large industrial refrigerators are a considerable environmental problem and an economic loss. membrane organic vapor recovery systems appear to be able to treat these streams. a membrane unit could recover cfc for reuse in the refrigerator, and producea… More

Membrane diffusion is an inherently slow process. consequently, membrane-based separation processes can only be economically viable if extremely thin, defect-free membranes are used. thin-film composite membranes with a permselective layer thickness down to about 0.5 mum can be made by presently… More

Membrane diffusion is an inherently slow process. consequently, membrane-based separation processes can be economically viable only if extremely thin, defect-free membranes are used. thin-film composite membranes with a permselective layer thickness down to about 0.5 mum can be made by available… More

The water produced in oil field drilling and production operations is heavily contaminated with particulates, oil emulsions, dissolved volatile organic compounds (vocs), and metal ions. using current technologies, it is not possible to treat these wastewaters cost-efficiently at the isolated… More

Water curtains and waterfall stripping systems are widely used in painting operations. the water used in these systems becomes contaminated with particulates, paint solvents and metal ions. current treatment technologies are inadequate and these waters have often to be sent to hazardous waste… More

This proposal describes the design of a solvent spray booth that uses a membrane system to recover and recycle solvent. solvent spray cleaning and solvent degreasing systems are widely used in a number of critical cleaning applications in the aerospace industry. cleaning booths use cfc-113,… More

Sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides are the chief precursors of acid rain, and their continued emission into the atmosphere has become a global concern. it is estimated that 23.4 million tons are emitted from industrial processesyearly, mainly from nonferrous metal smelting operations. nonferrous… More

Contamination of industrial wastewater with volatile organic compounds (vocs) is a common problem throughout u.s. industry. currently, most of the voc content of wastewaters is lost. common wastewater treatment methods include biological treatment, incineration, and deep-well injection. these… More

Virtually all natural gas must be treated to remove water vapor before the gas enters a pipeline. the principal current technology is absorption with glycol, but glycol dehydrators coextract benzene, a known carcinogen, which is then released to the atmosphere. new environmental regulations are… More

Sulfur dioxide (so2) emissions from the flue gas of coal-fired utility power plants are the major cause of acid rain. treatment of flue gas by conventional technologies is expensive and produces large secondary waste streams. this project concerns a new process for so2 removal based on a… More

Current commercial gas separation membranes are made from glassy or rubbery polymers. the transport through these membranes occurs by a solution-diffusion mechanism. most polymers show a trade-off between selectivity and permeability, i.e., high selectivities are coupled with low permeabilities and… More

Current and future legislation will require u.s. industry to treat many organic solvent-containing air streams now being discharged to the atmosphere. streams of this type are produced by processes such as paint removal and metal degreasing, and in painting and coating operations. membrane… More

Many Air Force base operations produce wastewater streams containing dissolved volatile and nonvolatile organics, suspensed solids, emulsified oils, and dissolved metal ions. Discharge of these streams, untreated, to the municipal sewer is increasingly unacceptable. Dissolved volatile organic… More

The Department of the Air Force uses large volumes of volatile organic compounds, principally hydrocarbon fuels. As much as 1% of these volatile liquids is lost in vent gases produced during transport, storage, and transfer operations, posing an economic and environmental problem to the DOD. This… More

Separation of olefins from saturated hydrocarbons is an industrially important gas separation that is highly energy intensive using current technology. membrane separation processes generally use much less energy than conventional processes such as distillation. polymeric membranes have been applied… More

The recovery of organic compound vapors from air and of higher hydrocarbon vapors from methane, are realted separations of industrial importance. membranes abe to preferentially permeate the minor organic vapor component are being developed for both of these applications. for an efficient process, a… More

The kraft paper-pulp process produces a number of very large aqueous streams containing high levels of dissolved organic compounds. these streams are either concentrated and burned, or discharged to a biological treatment systems. chemicals from these streams could be recovered by the new separation… More

Dilute acetic acid wastewater streams are produced in large quantities by the synthetic organic chemical industry, for example, in the synthesis of terephalate. recovery of acetic acid from these wastewaters for in-process recycling of the acid would reduce waste and save valuable resources. this… More

A vapor detection system able to analyze organic vapors at very low concentrations would make it possible to screen air travel passengers and their baggage for explosives. the level of sensitivity required for the detector is between 1 and 100 x 10-15 g of the material of concern. current detectors… More

The clean air act amendments of 1990 included standards for volatile organic compound (voc) emissions from equipment leaks (fugitive emissions) and from small vent streams. such emissions are estimated to total 330 million kg/year; additional controls required by the new act are expected to cost… More

Chlorine ranks among the ten most important commodity chemicals. approximately 54% of the total u.s. chlorine production is liquefied for sale or for in-plant transport. tail gas produced from the chlorine liquefaction process is the principal source of chlorine-containing waste gas streams produced… More

Research and development efforts are under way to produce the "green car" --can energy-efficient, pollution-free, economical vehicle that is also appealing to consumers. a good approach to meeting the goals of the "green car" is to use a fuel that is energy-efficient, pollution-free, economical,… More

Thirteen percent of known u.s. gas reserves, containing more than 4% nitrogen, cannot be exploited because no economical technology for removing the nitrogen exists. membrane processess could make this gas available if membranes with a methane/nitrogen selectivity of 6 or more were available; a… More

In the last decade, many high-performance glassy polymers, such as polyimides, that combine high gas permeability and high selectivity for one gas over another have been developed. although these new membrane materials have vastly better intrinsic gas separation properties than the materials in… More

Virtually all natural gas must b dehydrated before entering the pipeline. currently, glycol absorption dehydrators are widely used. however, these units coextract benzene, a known carcinogen, and release the benzene to the atmosphere. in addition, glycol dehydrators are not well suited for use on… More

The recovery of organic compounds from air and of higher hydrocarbon vapors from methane are related separations of considerable industrial importance. membranes able to preferentially permeate the minor organic component are being developed for both of these applications. for an efficient… More

In the chrome-electroplating industry, rinsing of finished products generatestoxic wastewater containing chromium metal. These waste-waters present asignificant disposal problem and a loss of valuable raw material in the form ofchromium, a predominantly imported metal. Coupled transport membranes… More

This proposal covers the development of a hybrid Brayton cycle/ membraneseparation system for VOC control. The new system design offers significantcapital and operating cost savings compared to current membrane vapor systems andcould make membrane technology competitive with alternative processes… More

Ships' fuel tank vents release significant quantities of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) into the atmosphere during fuel loading and transfer operations. Environmental regulations, safety and economy require that these emissions be controlled. Current technology is not suited to shipboard… More

U.S. industry generates large volumes of wastewater that contains suspendedparticles, emulsified liquids, dissolved macromolecules, and/or dissolved organiccompounds. Nanofiltration can produce dischargeable water from these streams.However, because current nanofiltration membranes are finely… More

High-volume, low-VOC-concentration air streams are produced by a broad range ofindustries. The most widely used conventional treatment technology is carbonadsorption. However, carbon adsorption produces dilute aqueous waste streams asa secondary waste, is difficult to adapt to… More

40005 November 8, 1996 Membrane Technology and Research, Inc. About 17% of domestic raw natural gas requires processing to remove carbon dioxide, but current techniques suffer from a number of problems. Membrane separation offers promise; however, most… More

40025 August 21, 1996 Membrane Technology and Research, Inc. By 1997, enforcement of the Clean Air Act will require installation of control technology to eliminate BTEX (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylenes) emissions from more than 6,000 glycol… More

41080 Membrane Technology and Research, Inc. Uranium and other radionuclides have contaminated the groundwater at numerous DOE sites around the United States, and remediation is required. One technology with significant potential uses liquid membranes, which can selectively extract uranium and… More

105 NGL Recovery in Carbon Dioxide Oil-Field Flood Operations--Membrane Technology and Research, Inc., 1360 Willow Road, Suite 103, Menlo Park, CA 94025-1516; (415) 328-2228 Dr. Ingo Pinnau, Principal Investigator Ms. E. G. Weiss, Business Official DOE Grant No. DE-FG03-97ER82429 Amount: … More

U.S. industry generates large volumes of wastewater that contain suspended particulates, emulsified liquids, dissolved macromolecules, or dissolved organic compounds. Nanofiltration or ultrafiltration can produce dischargeable water from these streams. However, because current nanofiltration and… More

Oxygen-oxidation processes are used to produce a number of important chemicals, including ethylene oxide, propylene oxide, terephthalic acid, and vinyl chloride. Approximately 450 million lbs/yr of the hydrocarbon feedstocks used in these processes are lost as part of an inert gas purge stream from… More

All polyethylene and polypropylene polymerization plants use a purge to remove paraffins entering the reactor with the olefin monomer. Loss of monomer with this purge represents 1-2% of the total monomer consumption of the plant and most of the plant¿s volatile organic compound emissions. The… More

105 NGL Recovery in Carbon Dioxide Oil-Field Flood Operations--Membrane Technology and Research, Inc., 1360 Willow Road, Suite 103, Menlo Park, CA 94025-1516; (415) 328-2228 Dr. Ingo Pinnau, Principal Investigator Ms. E. G. Weiss, Business Official DOE Grant No. DE-FG03-97ER82429 Amount: … More

50008-98-I Separation of Hydrogen/Light Hydrocarbon Gas Mixtures--Membrane Technology and Research, Inc., 1360 Willow Road, Suite 103, Menlo Park, CA 94025-1516; (650) 328-2228 Dr. R. W. Baker, Principal Investigator Ms. E. G. Weiss, Business Official DOE Grant No. DE-FG03-98ER82618 Amount: … More

50007-98-I Novel Nanofiltration Membranes for the Separation of Solvent/Oil Mixtures--Membrane Technology and Research, Inc., 1360 Willow Road, Suite 103, Menlo Park, CA 94025-1516; (650) 328-2228 Dr. J. G. Wijmans, Principal Investigator Ms. E. G. Weiss, Business Official DOE Grant No.… More

50875-98-I Removal of Chlorinated VOCs from Groundwater and Other Wastewater Streams--Membrane Technology and Research, Inc. (MTR), 1360 Willow Road, Suite 103, Menlo Park, CA 94025-1516; (650) 328-2228 Dr. R. W. Baker, Principal Investigator Ms. E. G. Weiss, Business Official DOE Grant No.… More

Oxygen-oxidation processes are used to produce a number of important chemicals, including ethylene oxide, propylene oxide, terephthalic acid, and vinyl chloride. Approximately 450 million lbs/yr of the hydrocarbon feedstocks used in these processes are lost as part of an inert gas purge stream from… More

Not Available Pervaporation is a new membrane separation technique that can recover high-value flavor compounds from food processing wastewaters and process streams. In the Phase I project the ability of pervaporation to recover onion and garlic flavors from evaporator condensate and crushed onion… More

Not Available Advances in microwave sources with high peak and average power depend on continued development of reliable modulators capable of testing high-voltage HPM sources at rep-rates up to 100 Hz. In light of budget limitations, new pulser development must be accomplished cost-effectively.… More

Pervaporation is a new membrane separation technique that can recover high-value flavor compounds from food processing wastewaters and process streams. In the Phase I project the ability of pervaporation to recover onion and garlic flavors from evaporator condensate and crushed onion juice was… More

Not Available A low-maintenance broad-area monitoring system is required for detection of toxic hydrazine leaks during fueling operations on the Mobile Launch Platform. The system must accurately detect 1 to 100 ppm vapor leaks in < 15 seconds and be capable of mainte

The oxo process is an important method of converting inexpensive olefins into valuable oxygenated building blocks. As a result, almost 10 million tons of oxo chemicals are synthesized annually worldwide. All oxo plants produce a reactor purge gas stream that contains 1-2 percent of the feedstocks… More

65043 Although U.S. refineries are short of hydrogen, many untapped sources exist, including off-gas and fuel gas streams that are generated on site. Membranes have been used to separate hydrogen from these gases, but many membrane modules are needed; therefore, the footprint and complexity of the… More

65111 The U.S. oil and gas industry produces 1 trillion gal/year of water contaminated with oil and dissolved hydrocarbons. Although EPA regulations require this water to be treated to 7-29 mg/L hydrocarbons, compliance is difficult with current technology, especially for water produced on… More

Methane is an important global warming gas. Large amounts of methane and other light hydrocarbons are produced as solution gas in the production of oil, and as biogas from landfills and animal feedlots. Some of this gas is emitted directly to the atmosphere, some is flared, and some (from the very… More

65084 Glycol dehydration is the most widely used method of dehydrating natural gas worldwide; the process is simple, proven, and inexpensive. However, these systems emit Hazardous Air Pollutants, most notably benzene, to the atmosphere. In 2002, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will… More

65051 Natural gas that is contaminated with less than 10% nitrogen still can be used by blending it with sufficient low-nitrogen-content gas. Unfortunately, much of this gas is not usually produced, particularly if it also contaminated with carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulfide. This represents… More

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project addresses the incorporation of a carbon dioxide/hydrogen separating membrane unit into steam reformer pressure-swing adsorption (PSA) hydrogen plants. This membrane unit will increase the amount of hydrogen produced by a reformer PSA… More

60352 The largely unharnessed energy of tidal and ocean currents such as the Gulf Stream is enormous. The absence of an efficient, low cost, environmentally friendly apparatus for power extraction from free water currents has been the major barrier to exploitation of this renewable energy… More

60352 The largely unharnessed energy of tidal and ocean currents such as the Gulf Stream is enormous. The absence of an efficient, low cost, environmentally friendly apparatus for power extraction from free water currents has been the major barrier to exploitation of this renewable energy… More

60245 Increasingly, U.S. refineries are short of hydrogen. While, untapped sources exist, including off-gas and fuel gas streams generated on-site, hydrogen recovery has been problematic. Membranes have been used for this application but membrane failure caused by plasticization and… More

60245 Increasingly, U.S. refineries are short of hydrogen. While, untapped sources exist, including off-gas and fuel gas streams generated on-site, hydrogen recovery has been problematic. Membranes have been used for this application but membrane failure caused by plasticization and… More

Ships generate large volumes of bilge and ballast water which, to meet new environmental regulations, will require treatment prior to overboard discharge. Such wastewaters contain high levels of emulsified and free-phase oil and suspended solids. Treatment by ultrafiltration can produce… More

65043 Although U.S. refineries are short of hydrogen, many untapped sources exist, including off-gas and fuel gas streams that are generated on site. Membranes have been used to separate hydrogen from these gases, but many membrane modules are needed; therefore, the footprint and complexity of… More

65043 Although U.S. refineries are short of hydrogen, many untapped sources exist, including off-gas and fuel gas streams that are generated on site. Membranes have been used to separate hydrogen from these gases, but many membrane modules are needed; therefore, the footprint and complexity of… More

70344 The xenon content of air is a marker for underground nuclear tests. However, the gas must be separated and enriched to facilitate analysis because its concentration is extremely low. This project will fabricate a membrane concentrator, based on nitrogen-permeable membranes, that is… More

70317 About 17% of known U.S. natural gas reserves are subquality due to a high carbon dioxide content. Membrane separation would be an attractive technology to remove this carbon dioxide if more robust membranes with higher selectivities and fluxes were available. This project will develop a new… More

Ships generate large volumes of bilge and ballast water that contain high concentrations of emulsified and free-phase oil as well as suspended solids. To meet new environmental regulations, this water will require treatment to reduce the oil content to less than 15 ppm before overboard discharge.… More

Many industrial wastewater producers are being required to treat their wastewater prior to discharge to publicly owned treatment works. These streams often are relatively small (< 50,000 gal/day), but they contain several categories of pollutants that make them difficult to treat with any one… More

Ships generate large volumes of bilge and ballast water that contain high concentrations of emulsified and free-phase oil as well as suspended solids. To meet new environmental regulations, this water will require treatment to reduce the oil content to less than 15 ppm before overboard discharge.… More

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will focus on the development of a commercially viable continuous process for bioethanol recovery. The proposed process will integrate a novel permeate condensation approach with the energy-efficient pervaporation technology. Due to… More

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will establish the feasibility of a materials system to encase customized ceramic signage (and other lightscaping products) which utilize solid-state ceramic lamps as a backlight source. These systems should achieve extraordinary power… More

70344S02-II The presence of short-lived, radioactive xenon-135 in air is a sign of nuclear activity. Detection is difficult because the amount of xenon in air is very small; hence, concentrating the xenon would facilitate analysis. To be practical, xenon concentration devices should be compact… More

72107S03-I Approximately 17% of U.S. natural gas reserves do not meet pipeline specification because of high nitrogen content. About 40% of these reserves lack suitable gas processing technology for smaller gas fields, especially where the gas contains more than 15% nitrogen. This is because the… More

70317S02-II About 17% of known U.S. natural gas reserves are subquality due to a high carbon dioxide content. Membrane separation would be an attractive technology to remove this carbon dioxide if more robust membranes with higher selectivities and fluxes were available. This project will… More

70317S02-II About 17% of known U.S. natural gas reserves are subquality due to a high carbon dioxide content. Membrane separation would be an attractive technology to remove this carbon dioxide if more robust membranes with higher selectivities and fluxes were available. This project will… More

70344S02-II The presence of short-lived, radioactive xenon-135 in air is a sign of nuclear activity. Detection is difficult because the amount of xenon in air is very small; hence, concentrating the xenon would facilitate analysis. To be practical, xenon concentration devices should be compact… More

72079S03-I About 17% of U.S. natural gas requires processing to remove carbon dioxide; however, current amine absorption technology is complex and expensive to apply, particularly to small gas streams. Membrane separation offers many advantages, but improvements are required for better economics… More

72129S03-I Currently, 55,000 glycol absorption systems are installed in the U.S. to dry natural gas. However, these systems have a number of environmental problems that make them unsuitable for use on offshore platforms. Membrane processes for drying the gas are a candidate solution, but membrane… More

Treatment of water contaminated with volatile organic compounds (VOCs) is a major problem for the U.S. chemical industry. Currently, VOCs are removed from moderately contaminated wastewater streams by processes such as steam stripping, and wastewaters containing low levels of VOCs are treated by… More

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project focuses on the separation of light hydrocarbon mixtures by pervaporation. Chemically and mechanically robust composite membranes have been made; these membranes showed good selectivities and fluxes when tested with propylene/propane… More

72129-Currently, more than 55,000 glycol absorption systems, based on hollow fiber membrane modules, are installed in the United States to dry natural gas. A system based on spiral-wound membrane modules would be much more compact and lighter weight. However, conventional spiral-wound modules… More

72079-Approximately 20% of U.S. natural gas reserves are subquality due to a high carbon dioxide content. Membrane separation is an attractive technology to remove this carbon dioxide; however, membranes with higher flux and selectivity are required to improve the economics and reliability of the… More

This Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) Phase II project focuses on the separation of light hydrocarbon mixtures-specifically, propylene/propane mixtures-by membrane pervaporation. A preliminary analysis indicated that the recovery of propylene from reactor purge gas streams using separation… More

This Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I project focuses on vapor-selective membranes that are stabilized through the addition of nanoscale fillers. Vapor-selective membranes, which preferentially permeate the larger molecules in a gas mixture, are used in industrial separation… More

75026-As the Nation moves toward a hydrogen economy, new sources of hydrogen will be required. Many low-pressure, hydrogen-containing refinery and petrochemical streams would appear to be good candidates for hydrogen separation by membranes. However, membranes have not been used for these… More

75027-The development of bio-based fuels can help reduce our Nation¿s dependence on imported oil. This project will develop an integrated membrane pervaporation-dephlegmation-dehydration process to separate ethanol from fermentation broth and produce 99+% fuel-grade ethanol. The process is… More

75004-Natural gas, which has a favorable hydrogen-to-carbon ratio, is the most affordable near term resource for producing large amounts of hydrogen as the Nation moves toward a hydrogen economy. This project will develop a membrane process to recover hydrogen and separate carbon dioxide from… More

75029-Flue gas from electric power plants is the largest source of carbon dioxide emissions to the atmosphere. No current technology can separate flue gas into concentrated carbon dioxide streams for sequestration at an economical cost. This project will develop a membrane process to separate… More

75026S As the Nation moves toward a hydrogen economy, new sources of hydrogen will be required. Many low-pressure, hydrogen-containing refinery and petrochemical streams would appear to be good candidates for hydrogen separation by membranes. However, membranes have not been used for these… More

75027S The development of bio-based fuels can help reduce our nation's dependence on imported oil. This project will develop an integrated membrane pervaporation-dephlegmation-dehydration process to separate water from ethanol and produce 99.5% fuel-grade ethanol. In particular, high-flux,… More

78313S Distillation is the principal separation technology used by the U.S. refining and petrochemical industries. Improvements in this technology could have a major impact on energy consumption and chemical production costs. This project seeks to develop a novel membrane-structured-packing… More

78040S The separation of value-added products from hydrocarbons is a widespread, process in the energy industries process. This project will develop a new class of nanoporous polymer membranes that has exceptional permeation characteristics for hydrocarbon/hydrogen and hydrocarbon/methane… More

79661S The costs of gas separation and pervaporation membrane processes are high because of the large number of pressure vessels, pipes, flanges and valves required for these plants. This project will develop a low-cost membrane module configuration that is expected to reduce installed module costs… More

75004B If hydrogen is to be used as an environmentally-friendly fuel, hydrogen production costs must be lowered and carbon dioxide, a by-product of hydrogen production, must be separated for sequestration. This project will develop a membrane process to recover hydrogen and separate carbon dioxide… More

The separation of value-added products from hydrocarbons is a widespread, process in energy industry processes. This project will develop a new class of nanoporous polymer membranes that have exceptional permeation characteristics for hydrocarbon/hydrogen and hydrocarbon/methane separation in… More

In the next few years, production of fuel-grade ethanol is expected to increase dramatically. The new ethanol production capacity will increase the supply-and decrease the price-of co-product streams. Zein is a potentially important co-product that could become interesting as a polymer raw material… More

Methane gas, a valuable energy resource, is the second-largest human-caused contributor to global warming, representing about 10% of total U.S. global-warming emissions. Substantial amounts are vented as carbon dioxide/methane mixtures from landfills and natural gas processing plants. This gas is… More

The cost-effective production of ethanol would have major implications for U.S. energy independence. Distillation, the conventional process for the production of ethanol, is not cost-effective for small-waste biomass streams. The development of more selective ethanol-permeating membranes could… More

The sensitivity of low-cost, portable volatile organic compound (VOC) detectors currently is use is low, which limits their application in many situations. More sensitive detectors are more expensive and less robust and not suitable for field use. This proposal describes the development of a… More

Membrane Technology and Research Inc. (MTR) proposes to develop oxygen-permeable and organic-rejecting membranes for use as a sealing layer on the cathode of lithium/air batteries. Thin, stable membranes that allow oxygen in air to transport into the cathode, but prevent organic solvents found in… More

Membrane Technology and Research, Inc. (MTR) proposes to develop small, automated membrane systems that will remove oxygen from the air space in gasoline storage tanks and simultaneously recover any gasoline vapors from the vest gas emitted from these tanks. By maintaining the air space at a low… More

Sequestration of carbon dioxide from coal-power-plant flue gas and landfill gas, by injection into coal beds, is a topic of current interest. In this process, the methane produced by displacing the carbon dioxide could cover the cost of sequestration. However, the nitrogen and oxygen, which is… More

Biobutanol, as a renewable alternative fuel, has a number of clear-cut advantages over bioethanol. However, biobutanol is not currently produced as a biofuel for economic reasons: biobutanol production by acetone-butanol-ethanol (ABE) fermentation and distillation is too complex and… More

"Demand for ethanol as a gasoline supplement is surging. Just over 100 U.S.corn-toethanol plants are currently operating, with almost 40 new plants slated for completion in the coming year. By 2012, 250 bioethanol plants are expected to be installed. The current fermentation-distillation-molecular… More

The separation and concentration of bioethanol from fermented biomass by distillation is a highly energy-intensive operation. In this project, ethanol-selective pervaporation membranes will be developed to perform this separation. The pervaporation process uses zeolite-polymer (mixed-matrix)… More

A volatile organic compound (VOC) detection system that is portable, sensitive to the low-ppb level, and able to provide reliable measurements in real time is needed for environmental compliance monitoring and process control in chemical plants. Recently, handheld and battery-powered ppb-level VOC… More

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will focus on the separation of olefin/paraffin vapor mixtures using organic-inorganic hybrid membranes. These membranes consist of thin selective layers that contain an interconnected network of nano-sized inorganic particles dispersed… More

Although biobutanol has a number of clear-cut advantages over bioethanol as a renewable alternative fuel, biobutanol is not currently produced as a biofuel for economic reasons. The current method of biobutanol production, by acetone-butanol-ethanol (ABE) fermentation and distillation, is too… More

In order to reduce the accumulation of greenhouse gases, it has been proposed to sequester the carbon dioxide from the flue gas of coal power plants by injecting the CO2 into unmineable coalbeds. The methane gas displaced by the carbon dioxide could be recovering and sold, thereby covering the cost… More

The current distillation-molecular sieve process for ethanol separation from corn fermentation broth uses up to 20% of the energy content of the ethanol produced. It is expected that even more energy will be used to separate ethanol from cellulosic fermentation broths because they contains less… More

Despite the general decrease in total methane emissions since 1990, methane emissions from manure management increased by 33% from 1.5 Tg in 1990 to 2.0 Tg in 2006. The majority of this increase was due to general changes in methods of manure management. It is reasonable to expect that methane… More

The recovery of acetic acid from dilute aqueous streams is an important industrial separation that is both high cost and energy intensive when performed by conventional distillation technology. A need exists for more efficient, lower cost, simpler technology, such as membrane technology. However,… More

Methane is the second largest contributor to global warming after carbon dioxide. As public awareness has increased in the last 2 decades, various technologies and process improvements have been developed to curb methane emissions in the United States. There is still a lack of economically viable… More

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project seeks to establish the feasibility of carbon-ceramic membranes for the highly difficult molecular separation of olefin/paraffin mixtures. Carbon molecular sieves are porous materials that possess small selective pores distributed in two to… More

Separations using distillation consume 5 to 6 quads of energy annually in the United States. We propose to develop a combination distillation-membrane vapor separation process that cuts the use of energy for distillation in half. Separation of aromatic/aliphatic mixtures, an important process in… More

Recovery and recycling of acetic acid from aqueous streams is an important industrial separation that is high cost and energy intensive when performed by conventional technology. This makes acetic acid recovery a tantalizing target for a more efficient, lower cost, simpler approach such as membrane… More

"Before entering the national pipeline distribution system, all natural gas must be dried, which is currently achieved using glycol dehydrators. However, the glycol dehydrators extract hazardous volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from the raw natural gas streams, In the U.S. alone the VOC emissions… More

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project proposes to develop novel CO2-selective polymeric membranes based on room-temperature ionic liquids (RTILs) for improving the cost and efficiency of CO2 capture from advanced IGCC power plants. The success of this project will enable the… More

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase II project proposes to continue the development of carbon-ceramic membranes with excellent propylene/propane separation performance. The membranes serve as the enabling technology to be used in an environmentally benign and economically viable membrane… More

Olefins are the most important building blocks of the petrochemical industry. Approximately 50 billion pounds of ethylene and 30 billion pounds of propylene (worth an estimated $27 billion) were produced in the United States in 2009. The ethylene and propylene must be separated from their… More

Methane is the second largest contributor to global warming after carbon dioxide. Various technologies and process improvements have been developed to curb methane emissions in the United States. There is still a lack of economically viable technology, however, to utilize dilute methane streams… More

Many commercial hydrophilic solvents form azeotropes or have vapor-liquid equilibrium (VLE) pinch points with water, which making solvent recovery by conventional distillation difficult. Solvents that form such azeotropes or have such pinch points include isopropyl alcohol (IPA), acetone, methyl… More