Facilities for state-of-the art controlled polymer synthesis (ATRP, SET-LRP) and click chemistry techniques in order to generate novel, functional polymeric materials for membrane applications.

High Pressure Reactor (Buchi) is used for polymerization and catalytic reaction. Midiclave is fitted with thermostats, mass flow, pressure controllers and electronic system to allow control of reaction parameters. This set-up has maximum 1 L volume and is able to operate at high pressure (up to 200 bar) and high temperature (up to 200°C).

The nitrogen Dry Box is a completely enclosed chamber, which is used for synthesis and sample preparation under controlled atmosphere. Inert gases like Argon, Nitrogen, and Plasma are easily maintained.

Gel Permeation Chromatography/Size Exclusion Chromatography (GPC/SEC) for molecular weight characterization of synthesized macromolecules and proteins.

iVisc is an automated viscosity measuring instrument for fluids, based on drag caused by relative motion of the fluid and a surface. It is based on U-tube capillary viscometers or Ostwald viscometers made of a U-shaped glass tube with two marks (one above and one below the bulb) is held vertically in a controlled temperature bath. Main application: molecular weight determination of synthetic polymers.

TGA measures amount and rate of weight change vs. temperature or time in a controlled atmosphere. It is used to determine composition and thermal stability of polymers and composite materials. The measurement can be conducted at the temperature from ambient up to 1000 °C, under purge gases of nitrogen or air.

Q 800 Dynamic Mechanical analyzer DMA (TA Instruments) measures the mechanical properties of solid polymer samples with different parameters: temperature, time, frequency, force or strain; measurement of storage and loss modulus, Tg and other transitions.

ARES1500 rheometer measures viscoelastic properties of polymer solutions (semiditluted concentration range) under oscillation test. It measures viscosity as a function of shear rate or stress, time and temperature dependence, storage modulus (G’) Loss Modulus (G”) with respect to time, temperature, frequency and stress/ strain.

Coating for polymeric samples (Au, Pt, Au/Pd, Ir

The NPM Lab has wide range of facilities for the preparation of both flat sheet and hollow fiber membranes.

This system is used to fabricate hollow fiber membranes from polymer solutions for different applications (e. g. aqueous and organophilic ultra- and nanofiltration, catalysis, protein separation, etc).

The Abbe-refractometer determines refractive index (nD) of solvent and solutions.

The Ultramicrotome Leica EM UC7 provides preparation of ultrathin sections for TEM (e.g. block copolymer morphology investigation).

BT-552 System is used to perform the following tests: In-plane conductivity testing on pure membrane sample, Through-plane conductivity testing on membrane assembled in an MEA, Activation Energy / Transition Temperature Testing, Hydrogen Crossover / Permeability Testing, Polarization Curves

Lab scale Forward osmosis (FO) self-built system that provides fast and accurate performance data with minimal amounts of membrane. It is designed to be used for both flat-sheet and hollow fiber membranes under no/low (up to 2 bars) hydraulic pressure.

Pervaporation set-up is a lab system used for liquid-liquid separation considering the change in the phase during the separation process form vapor to liquid. It can be used to test separations of organic from organic mixture, water from organic solvent, or organic solvent from water.

Membrane distillation is a membrane separation process, which uses microporous hydrophobic membranes, impermeable to the transport of liquid water. This setup can be used for testing flat sheet and hollow fiber in lab scale for membrane distillation and membrane crystallization. The jacketed feed and draw solution reservoir helps in maintaining set temperature difference.

Porolus 1000 is a capillary flow porometer, based on the displacement of a wetting liquid inside a porous network by means of an inert gas flow. It is used for the rapid measurement of through-pores in materials such as porous membrane, filters, paper, plastics, thin film and many other applications. It can be operated at high pressure to determine the bubble point, average pore size (mean flow pore diameter) and distribution from 500 micron to 18 nm with low surface tension wetting liquid (POREFIL). It also allows to measure gas permeability of membranes.

The system is used to evaluate the performance of membrane under varying conditions. This test bench unit offers experimental control by allowing adjustment of the flow parameters to accommodate a wide range of operating conditions and applications. The main operating parameters can be controlled are flow rate and pressure.