POLYMER MEMBRANES FOR ORGANIC SOLVENT NANOFILTRATION : COMPUTATIONAL METHODOLOGIES AND STUDIES

Abstract

Separation processes are among the most ubiquitous unit operations that comprise 40-70% of total capital and operating costs. Half of industrial energy is utilized by separation, where 80% is consumed by traditional energy-intensive separation. Comparatively, membrane technology offers a more sustainable alternative for separation. Recently, organic solvent nanofiltration (OSN) has emerged as a paradigm shift in membrane separation. Due to the ease of processing and molecular discrimination, polymer membranes are drawing much attention for OSN. Despite numerous experimental studies, computational investigation of polymer membranes for OSN is very limited. The objective of this thesis is to develop computational methodologies and employ them to investigate OSN through polymer membranes.