Better membranes, better future

Clean water, chemicals and advanced pharmaceuticals are vital pillars of modern life that rely on purification and separation processes. An astonishing fraction of all energy used in the world, approximately 10-15%, is currently used for these separation processes because of their reliance on heat and phase changes.

This implies that game-changing technologies for chemical separations have potential to address the world’s energy mix at levels similar to that of the entire consumer vehicle market.

Membrane and adsorption devices designed to separate molecules with molecular-scale resolution are 10x more efficient than existing thermal separators. However, revolutionary advances in materials chemistry and fabrication are needed for membranes and adsorbents to realize their potential.

Using a combination of molecular-scale design, scalable materials fabrication, and chemical engineering, the Lively group is creating cross-cutting nanoporous materials to efficiently separate a wide variety of small molecules critical to the hydrocarbon processing and electric power generation industries.