Role of Polymer Science in Water Purification Membranes

“Water, water, everywhere, Nor any drop to drink.” As populations increase, finding new, more effective ways to purify existing water sources is becoming more important and innovation with purification membranes through polymer chemistry is leading the way.

Geoffrey M. Geise of the University of Virginia will describe how polymer structure and dynamics influence the movement of water and salts through separation membranes. Abhishek Roy of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory will share the importance of polymer science in understanding polyamide based reverse osmosis membranes and how new polymer characterization methods lead to fundamental breakthroughs in correlating polymer structure with predicting properties in purification membranes.

This ACS Webinar will be moderated by Syed Islam of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and co-produced with the ACS Division of Polymer Chemistry.

What You Will Learn

  • Thin film polyamide chemistry.
  • Understanding polymer science parameters (morphology, chemical composition, topology, molecular weight) for RO membranes.
  • Overview of materials for next gen water purification membranes.
  • How thermodynamic factors influence salt transport in desalination membranes.
  • How polymer dynamics can be used to suppress salt transport and enhance the desalination performance of a membrane

Co-Producers

The Fine Print

ACS Webinars® does not endorse any products or services. The views expressed in this presentation are those of the presenters and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the American Chemical Society.

Meet the Experts  

Abhishek Roy
Senior Staff Scientist,
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)

Geoffrey Geise
Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering (by courtesy), & ChE Undergraduate Program Coordinator,
University of Virginia

Syed Islam
R&D Associate Staff, Chemical Sciences Division,
Oak Ridge National Laboratory

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