I-Corps: Water Purification Membranes Made using Green Solvents

This proposal builds on results from an NSF EPSCoR Cooperative Agreement (grant number 1355438: Powering the Kentucky Bioeconomy), which developed a new method to cast membranes using green, environmentally friendly and low-hazard solvents. One of the current concerns in membrane fabrication is that the solvents currently used are mostly petroleum derived solvents, and they are toxic, for instance, N-Methyl-2-Pyrrolidone (NMP) and Dimethylacetamide (DMAc). In Europe, the use of NMP and DMAc will be banned by Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) by April 2020. Therefore, there is an urgent need to explore alternatives for the traditional solvents. Our group developed the technology using two environmentally friendly solvents, methyl 5-(dimethylamino)-2-methyl-5-oxopentanoate (Rhodiasolv® PolarClean) and gamma-valerolactone (GVL) to fabricate Polysulfone (PSf) ultrafiltration membranes.