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DEPARTMENTAL SEMINAR DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL AND BIOMOLECULAR ENGINEERING FACULTY OF ENGINEERING National University of Singapore 4 Engineering Drive 4 Singapore 117576 Tel: (65) 6516 2186 TOPIC SPEAKER Fax: (65) 6779 1936 Recent Advances in Membrane Development at the Industrial Membrane Research Laboratory of the University of Ottawa Professor Takeshi Matsuura Professor Emeritus, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Ottawa, Canada HOST Professor Chung Neal DATE 3 February 2009 (Tuesday) TIME 11.00 a.m. VENUE E5-03-19 , Faculty of Engineering, National University of Singapore NUS Campus Map & NUS: Faculty of Engineering SYNOPSIS This talk presents the recent progresses made at the Industrial Membrane Research Laboratory of the University of Ottawa. The first topic deals with the membrane surface modification by blending surface modifying macromolecules (SMMs). SMMs were synthesized and blended into polymer solutions. While the polymer solution is cast into a film and solvent evaporated, SMM migrates to the membrane surface, to reduce the surface energy, rendering the surface of the membrane ultimately obtained either more hydrophobic, hydrophilic or charged, depending on the property of the SMMs, than the bulk membrane phase. The type of surface modifying macromolecules has a co-polymeric nature. It has an amphipathic structure consisting of a main polyurethane chain terminated with two chains containing hydrophobic, hydrophilic or charged functional groups. Based on this new approach, membranes were designed for: a. Seawater desalination and water treatment by membrane distillation b. Ultrafiltration with reduced fouling c. Removal of PPCPs from water by nanofiltration (joint work with University Technology Malaysia, MTU) d. Applications for direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) (Joint work with MTU) The second topic deals with the application of nanofiber membranes for water treatment and desalination by membrane distillation. Electro-spinning is known as a simple and versatile method to produce nonwoven membranes made out of nanofibers. A wide range of polymers and blends can be used to yield nanofibers. Commonly used membrane polymers such as cellulose acetate (CA), polysulfone (PSU) and polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) have been successfully electro-spun to form nonwoven nanofiber membranes for water filtration. Investigations have revealed that electro-spun nanofibrous membranes (ENMs) possess high-flux rates and low transmembrane pressure. These characteristics are due to its 1) high porosity, 2) interconnected open pore structure and 3) tailorable membrane thickness. Although electro-spun membranes have been extensively studied for decades and successfully commercialized as air filtration membrane, they have not been applied for water treatment. The nanofiber membranes were tested recently at the Industrial Membrane Research Laboratory for: a. Removal of latex particles from water (Joint work with NUSNNI) b. Seawater desalination by membrane distillation (Joint work with NUSNNI) c. Trihalomethanes (THMs) and haloacetic acids (HAAs) removal by carbon nano-fiber membranes. BIOGRAPHY Professor Takeshi Matsuura received his B.Sc. (1961) and M.Sc. (1963) degrees from the Department of Applied Chemistry at the Faculty of Engineering, University of Tokyo. He went to Germany to pursue his doctoral studies at the Institute of Chemical Technology of the Technical University of Berlin and received Doktor-Ingenieur in 1965. After working at the Department of Synthetic Chemistry of University of Tokyo as a staff assistant and at the Department of Chemical Engineering of the University of California as a postdoctorate research associate, he joined the National Research Council of Canada in 1969. He came to the University of Ottawa in 1992 as a professor and the chairholder of British (Consumers) Gas/NSERC Industrial Research Chair. He also acted as the director of the Industrial Membrane Research Institute (IMRI). After his retirement in 2002, he was appointed to Professor Emeritus in 2003 to be actively engaged in membrane research. ALL ARE WELCOME Please visit our website for more details, http://www.chbe.nus.edu.sg/ Rita Bleeme (Ms) :: Management Assistant Officer :: National University of Singapore :: Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering ::Faculty of Engineering :: No. 4 Engineering Drive 4, :: E5 - 02 - 09 :: Singapore 117576 :: 65-65163044 (DID) :: 65-67791936 (FAX) :: [email protected] :: (E) www.nus.edu.sg (W) :: Company Registration No. 200604346E Important: This email is confidential and may be privileged. If you are not the intended recipient, please delete it and notify us immediately; you should not copy or use it for any purpose, nor disclose its contents to any other person. Thank you.