Membrane Engineering Lab @ CYCU

Membranes are dense or porous polymeric, ceramic, metallic or composite interfaces whose function is to separate solutes. Their development and the assessment of their performances require knowledge in multiple fields including materials science, environmental engineering, chemical engineering, biomedical engineering, etc. depending also on the field of application. They have been around for many decades, yet fortunately, hold many secrets. I voluntarily used the word "fortunately" because these secrets justify the time and efforts put by numerous teams worldwide to engineer better membranes for more efficient processes and hopefully, a more sustainable environment.

Our team forming the Membrane Engineering Lab is trying to contribute to these efforts and this page aims to showcase our current themes of research. More particularly, the emphasis is put on the following aspects, all concerning polymeric or composite membranes:

1. Membrane formation mechanisms: we place great importance on understanding and controlling the mechanisms that influence the morphology of membranes. The membrane morphology, such as cellular, bicontinuous, nodular, with or without "fingers," directly impacts their range of applications. We design all our membranes from scratch and also utilize commercial membranes as control samples during performance tests. 

2. The VIPS process, VIPS membranes and their applications: VIPS stands for Vapor-Induced Phase Separation, a process that facilitates slow mass transfers. This unique characteristic allows for precise control over membrane structures. Among the various formation routes we explore for preparing membranes, we dedicate significant efforts to the development of VIPS membranes. We look into the wide yet poorly explored range of applications of these membranes (bacterial removal, gravity-driven breaking of emulsions, desalination, etc.)

3. The fabrication of antifouling and green membranes: since fouling, which refers to the attachment of particles, proteins, cells, and so on, is an inevitable consequence of membrane separation, we are currently designing materials and membranes that can resist irreversible fouling. The objective is to prolong the lifetime of the membranes and reduce overall process costs. Furthermore, we are focusing our efforts on developing green membranes, which are fabricated using environmentally friendly solvents.

4. Membranes for desalination: we have recently embarked on a new research endeavor focused on desalination methods, with a particular emphasis on the development of membranes for effective (high flux and rejection obtained with low feed-permeate temperature gradient) direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD). DCMD is a promising technique that utilizes membranes to facilitate the separation of water from salts and impurities through vapor permeation. By exploring this innovative approach, we aim to contribute to the development of efficient and sustainable desalination processes, addressing the growing need for freshwater resources in an environmentally friendly manner. For scalability, we are trying to develop these membranes using a reduced amount of unit operations (1 or 2 steps in the preparation process), and commercially available materials.

5. Membranes for advanced applications: We impart specific functional properties to some of our membranes. For instance, we are developing "killer membranes" that can kill bacteria during separation, catalytic membranes able to degrade solutes (such as antibiotics) during the separation, or smart membranes that can selectively catch cells during blood filtration.