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Description
Zeolite thin films and membranes are currently a promising technology for pervaporation, gas separation and water purification. The main drawback with these technologies is that the synthesis is not consistent leading to varied and unreproducible results. The Langmuir-Blodgett technique is a robust method for transferring monolayers of molecules or crystals

Zeolite thin films and membranes are currently a promising technology for pervaporation, gas separation and water purification. The main drawback with these technologies is that the synthesis is not consistent leading to varied and unreproducible results. The Langmuir-Blodgett technique is a robust method for transferring monolayers of molecules or crystals to a solid substrate. By measuring the surface pressure and controlling the area, reliable results can be achieved by transferring monolayers to different solid substrates. It has been shown previously that various types of zeolites can be functionalized and dispersed on the top of water. This is done by using an alcohol to form a hydrophobic coating on the surface of zeolite. The Langmuir-Blodgett can be used to create thin, compact films of zeolites for synthesizing and growing zeolite films. For the first reported time, cubic LTA Zeolites monolayers have been assembled with the Langmuir-Blodgett technique with multiple solvents and different sizes of zeolites. These films were characterized with Scanning Electron Microscopy and Pressure-Area Isotherms generated from the Langmuir-Blodgett. It was found that linoleic acid is a required addition to the zeolite dispersions to protect the mechanical stability during agitation. Without this addition, the LTA zeolites are broken apart and lose their characteristic cubic structure. This effect is discussed and a theory is presented that the interparticle interactions of the long alkane chain of the linoleic acid help reduce the shear stress on the individual zeolite particles, thus preventing them from being broken. The effect of size of the zeolites on the monolayer formation was also discussed. There seemed to be little correlation between the monolayer quality and formation as size was changed. However, to optimize the process, different concentrations and target pressures are needed. Lastly, the effect of the solvent was explored and it was found that there is a different between monolayer formations for different solvents likely due to differing interparticle interactions. Overall, LTA zeolites were successfully fabricated and the important factors to consider are the zeolite size, the solvent, and the amount of surfactant stabilizer added.
ContributorsDopilka, Andrew Michael (Author) / Lind, Mary Laura (Thesis director) / Cay, Pinar (Committee member) / Materials Science and Engineering Program (Contributor) / Chemical Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12
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Description
This report investigates the mass-transfer kinetics of gas diffusion through an asymmetrical hollow-fiber membrane developed for the membrane biofilm reactor (MBfR) when it is used to microbiologically convert syngas (a mixture of H2, CO2, and CO) to organic products. The asymmetric Matrimid® membrane had superior diffusion fluxes compared

This report investigates the mass-transfer kinetics of gas diffusion through an asymmetrical hollow-fiber membrane developed for the membrane biofilm reactor (MBfR) when it is used to microbiologically convert syngas (a mixture of H2, CO2, and CO) to organic products. The asymmetric Matrimid® membrane had superior diffusion fluxes compared to commercially available symmetric, three-layer composite and polypropylene single-layer membranes. The Matrimid® asymmetric membrane had a H2 gas-gas diffusion flux between 960- and 1600-fold greater than that of the composite membrane and between 32,000- and 46,800-fold greater than that of the single-layer membrane. Gas-gas diffusion experiments across the Matrimid® membrane also demonstrated plasticization behavior for pure CO2 and H2 gas feeds. In particular, a 10 psia increase in inlet pressure resulted in a 12-fold increase in permeance for H2 and a 16-fold increase for CO2. Plasticization was minimal for symmetric composite and single-layer membranes. Thus, diffusion fluxes were much higher for the asymmetric membrane than for the symmetric composite and single-layer membranes, and this supports the promise of the asymmetric membrane as a high-efficiency means to deliver syngas to biofilms able to convert the syngas to organic products. Gas-liquid diffusion was much slower than gas-gas diffusion, and this supports the benefit of using the MBfR approach over fermentation reactors that rely on sparging syngas.
ContributorsArafa, Omar M. (Author) / Rittmann, Bruce (Thesis director) / Torres, Cesar (Committee member) / Chemical Engineering Program (Contributor) / W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
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Description
Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are a new set of porous materials comprised of metals or metal clusters bonded together in a coordination system by organic linkers. They are becoming popular for gas separations due to their abilities to be tailored toward specific applications. Zirconium MOFs in particular are known for their

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are a new set of porous materials comprised of metals or metal clusters bonded together in a coordination system by organic linkers. They are becoming popular for gas separations due to their abilities to be tailored toward specific applications. Zirconium MOFs in particular are known for their high stability under standard temperature and pressure due to the strength of the Zirconium-Oxygen coordination bond. However, the acid modulator needed to ensure long range order of the product also prevents complete linker deprotonation. This leads to a powder product that cannot easily be incorporated into continuous MOF membranes. This study therefore implemented a new bi-phase synthesis technique with a deprotonating agent to achieve intergrowth in UiO-66 membranes. Crystal intergrowth will allow for effective gas separations and future permeation testing. During experimentation, successful intergrown UiO-66 membranes were synthesized and characterized. The degree of intergrowth and crystal orientations varied with changing deprotonating agent concentration, modulator concentration, and ligand:modulator ratios. Further studies will focus on achieving the same results on porous substrates.
ContributorsClose, Emily Charlotte (Author) / Mu, Bin (Thesis director) / Shan, Bohan (Committee member) / Chemical Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12