2010 R&D 100 Winner
2010 Editors' Choice Recipient
Nanostructured membranes are an emerging solution for water purification. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, Calif., and Porifera, Inc., Hayward, Calif., have built cost-effective Ultrapermeable Carbon Nanotube Membranes that could push this advantage further.
To build the membranes, which consist of single- or double-walled carbon nanotubes with diameters of the width of about six water molecules, a forest of nanotubes is grown on a substrate. The space between nanotubes is filled with a matrix material, and then some of the substrate and excess filling material is removed to open the nanotube ends. Allowing water to enter the hydrophobic nanotubes speeds the flow of water by up to 1,000 times compared to other membranes of similar pore size and density. This effect results in a more than 20% reduction in energy consumption in seawater desalination and more than 80% in brackish water desalination.
In addition to lower energy use, the membranes require less area for a given application than competing technologies, and can be custom-tailored with varying pore sizes and matrix composition to allow filtering of ionic solute.
Technology
Carbon nanotube membrane
Developers
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Porifera, Inc.
Development Team
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| (l-r) Francesco Fornasiero and Sangil Kim, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory; Olgica Bakajin and Aleksandr Noy, Porifera, Inc. |
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| Jason Holt, formerly with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory |
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| Hyung Gyu Park, ETH Zurich, Switzerland |
Ultrapermeable Carbon Nanotube Membranes Development Team
Olgica Bakajin, Porifera, Inc.
Francesco Fornasiero, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Jason Holt, formerly with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Sangil Kim, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Aleksandr Noy, Porifera, Inc.
Hyung Gyu Park, ETH Zurich, Switzerland
