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Within recent years, metal-organic frameworks, or MOF’s, have gained a lot of attention in the materials research community. These micro-porous materials are constructed of a metal oxide core and organic linkers, and have a wide-variety of applications due to their extensive material characteristic possibilities. The focus of this study is

Within recent years, metal-organic frameworks, or MOF’s, have gained a lot of attention in the materials research community. These micro-porous materials are constructed of a metal oxide core and organic linkers, and have a wide-variety of applications due to their extensive material characteristic possibilities. The focus of this study is the MOF-5 material, specifically its chemical stability in air. The MOF-5 material has a large pore size of 8 Å, and aperture sizes of 15 and 12 Å. The pore size, pore functionality, and physically stable structure makes MOF-5 a desirable material. MOF-5 holds applications in gas/liquid separation, catalysis, and gas storage. The main problem with the MOF-5 material, however, is its instability in atmospheric air. This inherent instability is due to the water in air binding to the zinc-oxide core, effectively changing the material and its structure. Because of this material weakness, the MOF-5 material is difficult to be utilized in industrial applications. Through the research efforts proposed by this study, the stability of the MOF-5 powder and membrane were studied. MOF-5 powder and a MOF-5 membrane were synthesized and characterized using XRD analysis. In an attempt to improve the stability of MOF-5 in air, methyl groups were added to the organic linker in order to hinder the interaction of water with the Zn4O core. This was done by replacing the terepthalic acid organic linker with 2,5-dimethyl terephthalic acid in the powder and membrane synthesis steps. The methyl-modified MOF-5 powder was found to be stable after several days of exposure to air while the MOF-5 powder exhibited significant crystalline change. The methyl-modified membrane was found to be unstable when synthesized using the same procedure as the MOF-5 membrane.
ContributorsAnderson, Anthony David (Author) / Lin, Jerry Y.S. (Thesis director) / Ibrahim, Amr (Committee member) / Chemical Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
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Description
Due to the environmental problems caused by global warming, it has become necessary to reduce greenhouse gas emissions across the planet. Biofuels, such as ethanol, have proven to release cleaner emissions when combusted. However, large scale production of these alcohols is uneconomical and inefficient due to limitations in standard separation

Due to the environmental problems caused by global warming, it has become necessary to reduce greenhouse gas emissions across the planet. Biofuels, such as ethanol, have proven to release cleaner emissions when combusted. However, large scale production of these alcohols is uneconomical and inefficient due to limitations in standard separation processes, the most common being distillation. Pervaporation is a novel separation technique that utilizes a specialized membrane to separate multicomponent solutions. In this research project, pervaporation utilizing ZIF-71/PDMS mixed matrix membranes are investigated to see their ability to recover ethanol from an ethanol/aqueous separation. Membranes with varying nanoparticle concentrations were created and their performances were analyzed. While the final results indicate that no correlation exists between nanoparticle weight percentage and selectivity, this technology is still a promising avenue for biofuel production. Future work will be conducted to improve this existing process and enhance membrane selectivity.
ContributorsHoward, Chelsea Elizabeth (Author) / Lind, Mary Laura (Thesis director) / Nielsen, David (Committee member) / Greenlee, Lauren (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Chemical Engineering Program (Contributor) / Materials Science and Engineering Program (Contributor)
Created2015-05
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Description
Carbon capture is an essential way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. One way to decrease the emissions is through the use of adsorbents such as zeolites. Dr. Dong-Kyun Seo’s group (School of Molecular Sciences, Arizona State University) synthesized the nanostructured faujasite (NaX). The zeolite was characterized using Scanning Electron Microscopy

Carbon capture is an essential way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. One way to decrease the emissions is through the use of adsorbents such as zeolites. Dr. Dong-Kyun Seo’s group (School of Molecular Sciences, Arizona State University) synthesized the nanostructured faujasite (NaX). The zeolite was characterized using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and the physisorption properties were determined using ASAP 2020. ASAP 2020 tests of the nano-zeolite pellets at 77K in a liquid N2 bath determined the BET surface area of 547.1 m2/mol, T-plot micropore volume of 0.2257 cm3/g, and an adsorption average pore width of 5.9 Å. The adsorption isotherm (equilibrium) of CH4, N2, and CO2 were measured at 25ºC. Adsorption isotherm experiments concluded that the linear isotherm was the best fit for N2, and CH4 and the Sips isotherm was a better fit than the Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm for CO2. At 25ºC and 1 atm the zeolite capacity for CO2 is 4.3339 mmol/g, 0.1948 mmol/g for CH4, and 0.3534 mmol/g for N2. The zeolite has a higher CO2 capacity than the conventional NaX zeolite. Breakthrough experiments were performed in a fixed bed 22in, 0.5 in packing height and width at 1 atm and 298 K with nano-zeolite pellets. The gas chromatographer tested and recorded the data every two minutes with a flow rate of 10 cm3/min for N2 and 10 cm3/min CO2. Breakthrough simulations of the zeolite in a fixed bed adsorber column were conducted on MATLAB utilizing varying pressures, flow rates, and fed ratios of various CO2, N2 and CH4. Simulations using ideal adsorbed solution theory (IAST) calculations determined that the selectivity of CO2 in flue gas (15% CO2 + 85% N2) is 571.79 at 1 MPa, significantly higher than commercial zeolites and literature. The nanostructured faujasite zeolite appears to be a very promising adsorbent for CO2/N2 capture from flue gas and the separation of CO2/N2.
ContributorsClark, Krysta D. (Author) / Deng, Shuguang (Thesis director) / Green, Matthew (Committee member) / Chemical Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
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Description
Even though access to purified water has improved, there are still many people and locations that do not have this convenience. Approximately 1.2 billion people lack access to safe drinking water and 2.6 billion people have little or no sanitation. Furthermore, breakthroughs in water purification technology are essential to combat

Even though access to purified water has improved, there are still many people and locations that do not have this convenience. Approximately 1.2 billion people lack access to safe drinking water and 2.6 billion people have little or no sanitation. Furthermore, breakthroughs in water purification technology are essential to combat these issues. While there are several approaches to water purification, membrane processes are widely used based on their numerous advantages, including high operating temperature and low energy input. In essence, membranes do not require chemical additives, thermal inputs, or regeneration of spent media. The spin coating procedure was used to make a total of 94 membrane samples by adjusting the following variables: membrane support, membrane wetting, solvent, polyacrylonitrile (PAN) content, water contant, Linde Type A (LTA) zeolite content, and the rotations per minute (RPM) of the spin coater. Parameters that were held constant include PAN for the permeable dispersion layer, LTA zeolites as the inorganic filler material, and a spin time of 30 seconds for the spin coater. There were key findings in both the preliminary and core data sets. From the preliminary membrane samples 1 \u2014 40, a baseline was established to use for the core data: polysulfone (PSf) support, 1 \u2014 3% PAN content, and 1 \u2014 3% LTA zeolite content. Flux analysis revealed many inconsistencies in groups 1 \u2014 13 such as unreasonably high error bars (+50%), flow rates that were near zero or extremely high (+15,000 L hr-1 m-2), and lack of a clear trend for membrane specifications. Membranes with a high degree of polymer \u2014 zeolite aggregation on the surface had very low flux values. A higher flux of 4,700 L hr-1 m-2 was correlated to gap and hole formation on the membrane surface. It was shown in group 7 that an increasing degree of surface defects corresponded to an increasing flux of 17,000 L hr-1 m-2. Although the target flux for a defect \u2014 free membrane lies between 500 \u2014 4,000 L hr-1 m-2, there were not any groups with flux values in this range. Attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) analysis revealed that the observed group similarities could not be attributed to individual membrane specifications. However, this data showed chemical fingerprint overlap across all groups, which were synthesized with varying quantities of the same chemicals. Analysis of flux data, SEM images, and ATR-FTIR data all suggest that the spin coating procedure leads to inconsistent results. Although the spin coater provides flexibility in user control, its advantages are outweighed by the limited control of surface uniformity, zeolite dispersion, and defect formation. It has been shown that the spin coating process is not compatible with the formation of a uniform polymer \u2014 zeolite layer in these experiments.
ContributorsMaltagliati, Alexander Justin (Author) / Lind, Mary Laura (Thesis director) / Durgun, Pinar Cay (Committee member) / Chemical Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12
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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
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Description
One of the grand challenges of engineering is to provide access to clean water because it is predicted that by 2025 more than two thirds of the world’s population will face severe water shortages. To combat this global issue, our lab focuses on creating a novel composite membrane to

One of the grand challenges of engineering is to provide access to clean water because it is predicted that by 2025 more than two thirds of the world’s population will face severe water shortages. To combat this global issue, our lab focuses on creating a novel composite membrane to recover potable water from waste. For use as the water-selective component in this membrane design Linde Type A zeolites were synthesized for optimal size without the use of a template. Current template-free synthesis of zeolite LTA produces particles that are too large for our application therefore the particle size was reduced in this study to reduce fouling of the membrane while also investigating the nanoparticle synthesis mechanisms. The time and temperature of the reaction and the aging of the precursor gel were systematically modified and observed to determine the optimal conditions for producing the particles. Scanning electron microscopy, x-ray diffraction, and energy dispersive x-ray analysis were used for characterization. Sub-micron sized particles were synthesized at 2 weeks aging time at -8°C with an average size of 0.6 micrometers, a size suitable for our membrane. There is a limit to the posterity and uniformity of particles produced from modifying the reaction time and temperature. All results follow general crystallization theory. Longer aging produced smaller particles, consistent with nucleation theory. Spinodal decomposition is predicted to affect nucleation clustering during aging due to the temperature scheme. Efforts will be made to shorten the effective aging time and these particles will eventually be incorporated into our mixed matrix osmosis membrane.
ContributorsKing, Julia Ann (Author) / Lind, Mary Laura (Thesis director) / Durgun, Pinar Cay (Committee member) / Chemical Engineering Program (Contributor) / Materials Science and Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
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Description

Carbon capture has been a highly sought-after technology for decades because of its<br/>capabilities to restore atmospheric damage done by greenhouse gasses. Thanks to evolving<br/>separation techniques, carbon capture is becoming more efficient with every new discovery in<br/>the field. Currently the biggest problems that carbon capture are facing is the cost of<br/>manufacturing

Carbon capture has been a highly sought-after technology for decades because of its<br/>capabilities to restore atmospheric damage done by greenhouse gasses. Thanks to evolving<br/>separation techniques, carbon capture is becoming more efficient with every new discovery in<br/>the field. Currently the biggest problems that carbon capture are facing is the cost of<br/>manufacturing material to aid the process and obtaining ideal conditions for removal of carbon<br/>from air and devising solutions for removal of CO2 in ambient and flue gas conditions.<br/>This Honors Thesis is a continuation of Dr. Shuguang Deng and Dr. Mai Xu’s research<br/>initiative to manufacture and test various zeolitic CO2 removal efficiencies. The goals of this<br/>Honors Thesis are to investigate the adsorption/desorption kinetics and isothermal equilibrium<br/>CO2 capacity of a NaX nanozeolite under ambient air conditions.<br/>What was determined from the following testing was that the zeolite of interest had a<br/>higher adsorption capacity of CO2 at lower temperatures, had a maximum equilibrium quantity<br/>adsorbed of 0.203 mmol/g for CO2 and 0.367 mmol/g of N2, had a maximum breakthrough CO2<br/>capacity of 0.101 mmol of CO2 per gram of zeolite at dry conditions and 298.15K and this<br/>linearly decreased to 0.040 mmol/g at 25% relative humidity.

ContributorsBonelli, Xavier Berlage (Author) / Deng, Shuguang (Thesis director) / Xu, Mai (Committee member) / Chemical Engineering Program (Contributor, Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2021-05