NAMS 2020

Measurement Methods for
Membranes

Saturday May 16, 2020

8AM – 5PM

Measurement Methods for Membranes2019-12-18T22:02:41+00:00

ABSTRACT

This workshop provides an overview of the entire field of membrane science, technology, and applications through measurements, and is therefore an excellent resource for novices with a technical background, as well as, seasoned veterans interested in broadening their scope (or having a refresher.) The workshop will provide a survey of the various physical and chemical properties of membranes (and membrane process characteristics) that are measured, and the equipment (instruments) and techniques used, along with their underlying principles. A mixture of classical, novel, and resource-intensive techniques are included.

  • Two weeks prior to the workshop a set of journal articles will be made available to registrants. These articles will be used in class discussions.
  • Also, all registrants will be asked to fill out a survey with questions and topics of particular interest to them.

Syllabus topics include

  • Materials and structures
  • Gas and liquid phase transport
  • Mechanical and physical metrology techniques
  • Porometry
  • Surface and chemical measurements
  • Visualization and scattering techniques
  • Special topics illustrating emerging characterization approaches

The workshop will finish with an industrial perspective segment that features a few invited panelists who will comment on how their organizations use membrane characterization to advance (or maintain) their business objectives.

Instructors

The co-instructors combine many decades of membrane science and technology experience in industry, academia, and government. Their expertises include both polymeric and inorganic membranes as applied to gases, organic liquids, and water over a broad range of separations and filtration applications requiring both dense and porous materials. They have all actively applied advanced and classical characterization methods throughout their careers.

Dr. Uwe Beuscher is a senior filtration technologist for W.L. Gore & Associates, Inc. He has more than 20 years of experience exploring separations and mass transport problems for a variety of high performance applications using unique experimental approaches and numerical simulation. He has served on SEMI standard committees and as the president of the North American Membrane Society (NAMS).

Dr. Ryan Lively spent three years as a research engineer at Algenol Biofuels before joining the School of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering at Georgia Tech. as an Assistant Professor. He is a recipient of the 2013 NSF BRIGE Award and has over 60 publications in the field of separations including articles in Science, Nature, Nature Nanotechnology, and Advanced Functional Materials, covering advances in critical fluid separation processes using chemistry-inspired materials design.

Dr. John Pellegrino founded this workshop in 1995 and has helped evolve it since then. He has held research and development positions at Rohm & Haas Co., duPont Inc., the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and Santa Fe Science and Technology Inc., and is currently a Research Professor in the Mechanical Engineering Department at CU.

2023

Dr. Dibakar (DB) Bhattacharyya

Dr. Dibakar (DB) Bhattacharyya, UK Alumni Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Kentucky, received the Alan S. Michaels Award for his work in the development of stimuli responsive functionalized membranes and the application of membrane technology to solve critical environmental and societal challenges, including the development of high-performance masks and air filtration systems for protection against Covid-19 infection. DB has also been a mentor to literally hundreds of undergraduate students and dozens of PhD students.

In addition, Dr. Bhattacharyya’s work has had a direct impact on the commercialization of membrane technologies. He worked with Nanostone Water (now Solecta) on the synthesis of positively-charged nanofiltration membranes that have used to treat wastewater generated from flue gas desulfurization operations. His patents on functionalized membranes have been employed at a Superfund remediation site as part of a process to degrade critical organics like trichloroethylene and perchloroethylene in groundwater samples. More recently, DB’s research on COVID-19 has resulted in patent applications: “Antiviral mask and antiviral filter made from a breathable microporous polymeric membrane”, and “Hollow fiber membrane for enclosed space air remediation.”

The breadth of DB’s contributions to membrane science is truly impressive. He has developed novel graphene-based nanofiltration membranes. He has provided fundamental insights into transport mechanisms during pervaporation through zeolite membranes. He has examined the use of porous membranes for the synthesis of bimetallic metal catalysts. He has performed wide-ranging studies of functionalized membranes for the removal of heavy metals from wastewater streams.

DB has also been an active contributor to the membrane community, having organized 3 separate NAMS meetings in 1992, 2001, and 2018 (all in Lexington, KY) while serving as a member of the Board of Directors for many years and as President of NAMS (from 2015-2016). The Alan S. Michaels Award recognizes DB’s outstanding innovations and lifetime contributions to membrane science and technology and to the broader membrane community.