Journal of Physical Chemistry C
Journal of Physical Chemistry C
5 years ago

Ethanolamine Purification by Nanofiltration through PIM-1 and Carbon Membranes: A Molecular Simulation Study

Ethanolamine Purification by Nanofiltration through PIM-1 and Carbon Membranes: A Molecular Simulation Study
Qi Shi, Jianwen Jiang, Lev Sarkisov, Krishna M. Gupta
Economical purification of high-value chemicals after biomass conversion is highly desirable. Herein, we report a molecular simulation study to investigate ethanolamine (ETA) purification from its mixture with water and ammonia by nanofiltration. Two different classes of membranes are considered including a polymer of intrinsic microporosity (PIM-1) and two activated carbons, namely, curved corannulene (CRNL) and functionalized CRNL with OH (CRNL-(OH)2). Water flux and permeability through the membranes are found to decrease in the order CRNL-(OH)2 > PIM-1 > CRNL. As attributed to its hydrophilic nature, CRNL-(OH)2 exhibits the highest flux and permeability. Ammonia is also observed to permeate through the three membranes. Nevertheless, 100% ETA retention is achieved by CRNL-(OH)2, indicating the suitability of CRNL-(OH)2 for optimal ETA purification. Due to strong affinity, water near CRNL-(OH)2 exhibits a substantially longer residence time than near PIM-1 and CRNL. Furthermore, the lifetime of hydrogen bonds for water in the membranes follows the reverse trend of water flux. The simulation study provides microscopic insights into the dynamic and structural properties of water, ETA, as well as ammonia in the three membranes, and suggests that CNRL-(OH)2 might be an interesting candidate for ETA purification.

Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcc.7b07043

DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcc.7b07043

You might also like
Discover & Discuss Important Research

Keeping up-to-date with research can feel impossible, with papers being published faster than you'll ever be able to read them. That's where Researcher comes in: we're simplifying discovery and making important discussions happen. With over 19,000 sources, including peer-reviewed journals, preprints, blogs, universities, podcasts and Live events across 10 research areas, you'll never miss what's important to you. It's like social media, but better. Oh, and we should mention - it's free.

  • Download from Google Play
  • Download from App Store
  • Download from AppInChina

Researcher displays publicly available abstracts and doesn’t host any full article content. If the content is open access, we will direct clicks from the abstracts to the publisher website and display the PDF copy on our platform. Clicks to view the full text will be directed to the publisher website, where only users with subscriptions or access through their institution are able to view the full article.