Polytriazole membranes with ultrathin tunable selective layer for crude oil fractionation

by S. Chisca, V. Musteata, W. Zhang, S. Vasylevskyi, G. Falca, E. Abou-Hamad, A. Emwas, M. Altunkaya, S. P. Nunes
Year: 2022 ISSN: DOI: 10.1126/science.abm7686 DOI: DOI: 10.1126/science.abm7686

Extra Information

Science, Vol 376, Issue 6597, pp.1105-1110

Abstract

The design of materials and their manufacture into membranes that can handle industrial conditions and separate complex non aqueous mixtures are challenging. We report a versatile strategy to fabricate polytriazole membranes with 10-nanometer-thin selective layers containing sub nanometer channels for the separation of hydrocarbons. The process involves the use of the classical nonsolvent-induced phase separation method and thermal cross-linking. The membrane selectivity can be tuned to the lower end of the typical nanofiltration range (200 to 1000 gram mole−1). The polytriazole membrane can enrich up to 80 to 95% of the hydrocarbon content with less than 10 carbon atoms (140 gram mole−1).These membranes preferentially separate paraffin over aromatic components, making them suitable for integration in hybrid distillation systems for crude oil fractionation

Keywords

Science membrane Crude oil