In addition to its annual lectures, ChBE hosts a weekly seminar throughout the year with invited lecturers who are prominent in their fields. Unless otherwise noted, all seminars are held on Wednesdays in the Molecular Science and Engineering Building ("M" Building) in G011 (Cherry Logan Emerson Lecture Theater) at 4:00 p.m. Refreshments are served at 3:30 p.m. in the Emerson-Lewis Reception Salon.

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Enabling advanced biofuel production through materials-inspired energy efficient separations

As corn-based biofuels reach their practical limits, advanced algae-based biofuels are poised to supply the rapidly increasing demand for renewable fuels. Large energy costs in biorefineries using traditional separation techniques for dilute feedstocks are currently a hurdle, but also a major opportunity for innovation. Advanced materials and their manufacturing into low-cost, energy-efficient separation devices to meet this challenge will be the focus of the talk. First, post-combustion CO2 capture will be discussed as an economical carbon source for the algae. A highly scalable materials production technique—fiber spinning—is used to create high-flux polyimide hollow fiber membranes as well as multi-layer hollow fiber sorbents that function as integrated adsorbing heat exchanging devices.   Flexible zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (ZIFs) are identified as promising candidates for advanced filler materials in polymer-inorganic hybrids. The versatility of the fiber sorbent platform is illustrated. Materials synthesis, bench-scale module testing and technoeconomic analysis of these fiber-based systems will be presented. Besides the CO2 capture challenge, purification of dilute ethanol feeds must be addressed. In this regard, a highly hydrophobic zeolite is a uniquely attractive candidate for dilute ethanol recovery. Fundamental transport and thermodynamic characterizations of a suitable zeolite for this application are presented. Exceptionally high ethanol/water selectivities are obtained for the neat zeolite. Zeolite morphology control is demonstrated, as is the inclusion of high aspect ratio forms of the zeolite into hybrid materials. Routes forward for both separations are discussed.