Membrane & Separation Laboratory

JIHOON KIM

Senior Researcher (2021 - present)

at Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology (KRICT)

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Postdoctoral Research Associate in Chemical Engineering(2018 - 2021)

at Imperial College London (Prof. Andrew G. Livingston)

MS-PhD degree in Energy Engineering (2012 - 2017)

at Hanyang University (Prof. Young Moo Lee)

BS degree in Chemical Engineering (2006 - 2008, 2010 - 2012)

at Hanyang University

Carbon Capture & Utilization (CCU)
Downstream processes for
biomass-derived platform chemicals
TRL 3 to 6

Plastic chemical recycling
Catalytic depolymerization
and monomer purification
TRL 3 to 6

Bio-monomer production
Continuous FDCA production with
low energy-intensive separation
TRL 3 to 4

Highly pure F&F-grade chemicals
Distillation & Recrystallization,
Analysis
TRL 4 to 5

The representative publications

Low energy-intensive production of
 fuel-grade bio-butanol enabled by membrane-based extraction

Ji Hoon Kim, Marcus Cook, Ludmila Peeva, Jet Yeo,
Leslie W. Bolton, Young Moo Lee, and Andrew G. Livingston
Energy & Environmental Science, 2020, 13, 4862-4871
10.1039/D0EE02927K

Widespread use of biofuels is inhibited by the significant energy burden of recovering fuel products from aqueous fermentation systems. Here, we describe a membrane-based extraction (perstraction) system for the recovery of fuel-grade biobutanol from fermentation broths which can extract n-butanol with high purity (>99.5%) while using less than 25% of the energy of current technology options. The application of this perstraction system to continuous production of a range of higher alcohols is explored and shown to be highly favourable.
This research was supported by BP through the BP International Centre for Advanced Materials (BP-ICAM) and Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education (2018R1A6A3A03012680). 

Thermally rearranged polymer
membranes for desalination

Ji Hoon Kim, Sang Hyun Park, Moon Joo Lee, Sang Min Lee, Won Hyo Lee, Kang Hyuck Lee, Na Rae Kang, Hye Jin Jo,
Jeong F. Kim, Enrico Drioli, and Young Moo Lee
Energy & Environmental Science, 2016, 9, 878-884
10.1039/C5EE03768A

Herein, we demonstrate thermally rearranged polybenzoxazole-co-imide (TR-PBOI) electrospun nanocomposite membranes for membrane distillation and membrane crystallization applications. We seek to demonstrate that a synergistic combination of TR polymers, porous nanofibrous membranes, and particle coating improves the long-term stability while maintaining high porosity and water flux. In addition, for the first time, controlling the heterogeneous nucleation phenomena in membrane crystallization was clearly demonstrated using TR membrane morphology.
This research received financial support from the Nano Material Technology Development Program (2012M3A7B4049745) through the National Research Foundation (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning. 

A robust thin film composite membrane incorporating thermally rearranged polymer support for organic solvent nanofiltration and pressure retarded osmosis

Ji Hoon Kim, Sun Joo Moon, Sang Hyun Park, Marcus Cook, Andrew G. Livingston, and Young Moo Lee
Journal of Membrane Science, 2018, 550, 322-331
10.1016/j.memsci.2018.01.008 

In this work, we report a highly porous, thermally and chemically robust support comprising a thermally rearranged polymer which is combined with a polyamide active layer to form a thermally rearranged, thin film composite (TR-TFC) polymer membrane for general use in liquid separation, and for environmentally-friendly power generation.
The authors appreciate the financial support from the Nano Material Technology Department Program (2012M3A7B4049745) and the Technology Development Program to Solve Climate Changes (2015M1A2A2058035) through the National Research Foundation (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Science and ICT, South Korea. 

A compact and scalable fabrication method for robust thin film composite membranes

Ji Hoon Kim, Marcus Cook, Sang Hyun Park, Sun Ju Moon, Jeong F. Kim, Andrew G. Livingston, and Young Moo Lee
Green Chemistry, 2018, 20, 1887-1898
10.1039/C8GC00731D 

Herein, a new green and compact fabrication method is proposed for both (i) fabricating a robust membrane that can function beyond the typical operating conditions of conventional membranes and (ii) minimizing waste creation and production time. In this work, contrary to the conventional phase inversion method, a spray-coating technique was employed to fabricate a thin composite membrane with high temperature stability and fast solvent permeability. The proposed compact fabrication method can reduce the carbon footprint and the usage of polymers and solvents more than twofold, and eliminate the time-consuming coagulation and washing steps.
This work was supported from financial support from the Technology Development Program to Solve Climate Changes (2015M1A2A2058035) through the National Research Foundation (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning. 

Hydrophobic polyamide nanofilms provide rapid transport for crude oil separation

Siyao Li, Ruijiao Dong, Valentina-Elena Musteata, Ji Hoon Kim, Neel Rangnekar, JR Johnson, Bennett D. Marshall, Stefan Chisca, Jia Xu, Scott Hoy, Benjamin A. McCool, Suzana P. Nunes,
Zhiwei Jiang, and  Andrew G. Livingston
Science, 2022, 377, 1555-1561
10.1126/science.abq0598 

Membrane technology can offer an energy-efficient alternative but requires selective differentiation of crude oil molecules with rapid liquid transport. We synthesized multiblock oligomer amines, which comprised a central amine segment with two hydrophobic oligomer blocks, and used them to fabricate hydrophobic polyamide nanofilms by interfacial polymerization from self-assembled vesicles. These polyamide nanofilms provide transport of hydrophobic liquids more than 100 times faster than that of conventional hydrophilic counterparts. In the fractionation of light crude oil, manipulation of the film thickness down to ~10 nanometers achieves permeance one order of magnitude higher than that of current state-of-the-art hydrophobic membranes while retaining comparable size- and class-based separation.
This work was supported by ExxonMobil Research and Engineering. R.D. acknowledges support from UKRI EPSRC grant EP/M01486X; J.K. and A.G.L. acknowledge support from European Research Council (ERC) grant 786398; S.L. acknowledges support from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (OSR-2017-CRG6-3441.01). Z.J. acknowledges support from Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (CBET-EPSRC EP/R018847). 

N-aryl-linked spirocyclic polymers for membrane separations of complex hydrocarbon mixtures

Kirstie A. Thompson, Ronita Mathias, Daeok Kim, Ji Hoon Kim, Neel Rangnekar, JR Johnson, Scott J. Hoy, Irene Bechis, Andrew Tarzia, Kim E. Jelfs, Benjamin A. McCool, Andrew G. Livingston, Ryan P. Lively, and MG Finn
Science, 2020, 369, 310-315
10.1126/science.aba9806 

Hydrocarbon distillation is a widespread and energy-intensive process. Membranes might offer an alternative approach, but few can survive immersion in organic solvents nor are they able to extract relatively small molecules. Thompson et al. developed a series of polymers of intrinsic microporosity that they used for membrane-based separations of organic compounds in an organic solvent (see the Perspective by Brennecke and Freeman). The new membrane has a molecular weight cutoff of 253 daltons, far lower than existing ones closer to 600 daltons. The polymers were used to separate light shale crude oil and succeeded in fractionation of molecular weights of about 170 daltons.
This work was supported by ExxonMobil Research and Engineering. K.A.T. acknowledges support from the Department of Education Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need (GAANN) program at Georgia Institute of Technology (award no. P200A180075). K.E.J. acknowledges a Royal Society University Research Fellowship. A.T. acknowledges a Royal Society Enhancement Grant (2018) and the European Research Council (ERC) under FP7 (CoMMaD, ERC grant no. 758370).  

The representative experiences

Technology transfer to Lotte Chemicals Co.

Continuous waste polystyrene catalytic depolymerization and separation
(2022. 07. 11)
396,000 USD (10% contribution)

Know-how consultancy to
Evonik Industries

Roll-to-roll robust membrane fabrication and module preparation
(2020. 07 - 2020. 12)
8,000 GBP (100% contribution)

Principal Investigator

National Research Foundation of Korea
Basic Science Research Program
(2018. 09 - 2019. 08)
Developing innovative and environmental-friendly spraying thin-film composite membrane for interactive separation in organic solvents
30,000 USD 

 

 

The list of publications

The list of registered patents

The previous projects