Recovery Act - Novel Membranes for Dehydration of Organic and Inorganic Acids

Distillation is a very valuable chemical engineering unit operation but is energy intensive and capital intensive. This is especially true for removing water from organic and inorganic acids where components either form azeotropes or have small relative volatility differences. With a hybrid robust membrane process we can eliminate azeotropes and process pinch points. By using chemically and thermally stable high flux membranes for hybrid process we provide a platform technology which can be used for solving many distillation problems. Preliminary lab and economical evaluations suggest our recently identified novel membrane is superior to existing commercial technology. In Phase-I we will evaluate nitric acid drying which is a difficult distillation. We will demonstrate our novel membrane's ability to complete the difficult distillation separation in an energy and cost effective manner. We will also demonstrate the membranes capability to be made cost effectively. Commercial Applications and Other Benefits: Distillation is the largest and most capital and energy intensive unit operation in the chemical industry. If this programs technology platform is successful, our membranes will be able to reduce energy and capital costs associated with azeotropic distillation of inorganic and organic acids, and other difficult distillation separations.