UB engineers awarded $3 million to create new industrial membranes

BUFFALO, N.Y. – A University at Buffalo-led research team has been awarded $3 million to develop new membrane technology that could greatly reduce the amount of energy needed to produce pharmaceuticals, chemicals, food and other products.

Funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, the membranes could ultimately reduce production costs and greenhouse gas emissions, which could make everyday goods more affordable and lessen their environmental impact.

“The main objective of our work is to develop cost-effective solvent- and heat-resistant membranes that can withstand the harsh industrial conditions associated with creating many common products,” says the grant’s principal investigator Miao Yu, PhD, SUNY Empire Innovation Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

Yu, a core faculty member in the UB RENEW Institute, will work with students and three companies: GTI Energy of Des Plaines, Illinois; Marquis Energy of Hennepin, Illinois; and Media and Process Technology Inc. of Harmar, Pennsylvania.

Lower-cost, eco-friendly alternative to industry standard

To create ingredients used in medicine, food, chemicals and other products, industry regularly uses energy-intensive processes, such as distillation and crystallization.

These processes, which often require an extraordinary amount of heat, change the composition of raw materials and unlock molecules needed for commercial products. An example of this is soybean oil processing, which requires several steps including heating the beans up to 190 degrees Fahrenheit, to properly extract the oil.

With rising energy costs and concerns about climate change-inducing greenhouse gases, industry is working to supplant these processes with lower-cost and eco-friendly alternatives.

Membranes are attractive because they can separate molecules without heat, complex chemical solvents and other time-consuming and costly steps. Unfortunately, most are made from plastics that easily degrade, making them impractical.

That’s where Yu and his collaborators come in. They are creating new, sturdier membranes –made of titanium oxide and carbon – that can withstand harsh industrial separation processes.

Tests will focus on soybean oil processing

These membranes, which are 50 to 80 centimeters long, are combined into modules. Researchers can precisely control the size and shape of the nanopores to allow different-sized molecules to pass through. Also, the membranes can endure temperatures up to 250 degrees Celsius.

To test their viability, the researchers will demonstrate a prototype system in which they attempt to process up to 20 kilograms of crude soybean oil per day. They will continue the experiment nonstop for 500 hours, or roughly three weeks.

If successful, the membrane could have important consequences. For example, it could potentially eliminate the need to heat the soybean oil, which is the current industry standard for removing impurities. In turn, this could reduce the energy required to produce soybean oil by as much as 70%.

“Because we can tune the size and shape of the pores in the membrane, we believe this system could be applicable for other industries – such as chemical and pharmaceutical companies – that rely upon separation science,” says Yu.

UB’s Technology Transfer office has filed a preliminary patent for the technology, and efforts are underway to commercialize it.

The funding comes from the Energy Department’s Industrial Efficiency and Decarbonization Office. It is among 16 projects representing $38 million that were recently announced.