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Volume 7, Issue 6 (Suppl) J Biotechnol Biomater, an open access journal
ISSN: 2155-952X World Biotechnology 2017
December 04-05, 2017
2nd World Biotechnology Congress
December 04-05, 2017 | Sao Paulo, Brazil
Bioinspired solvent-resistant nanofiltration membranes
Liliana Perez-Manriquez
King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Saudi Arabia
In the last decades, there has been a trend towards bio-inspired approaches for the formation of nanocoatings as well as to accomplish
energy-intensive industrial separations in a more sustainable fashion. Organic solvent nanofiltration (OSN) is a pressure driven
technology where the operation conditions are moderate and additional waste streams are minimized, making this a favorable energy
efficient approach for challenging molecular separations such as purification of active pharmaceutical ingredients, production of
specialty chemicals and in the petrochemical industry just to mention a few examples, where this technology can be currently applied.
The overall performance of OSN membranes is determined by solute/solvent interactions with the membrane top layer. Therefore,
the modification of the membrane surface becomes crucial to obtain high -performance OSN membranes, as well as exploring novel
and green approaches to improve the separation properties of OSN membranes, without sacrificing their permeation properties.
One alternative for the fabrication of the thin-films in OSN membranes proposed in this work is the use of bio-polyphenolic
molecules. Among the many classes of phenolic biomolecules, plant phenols are capable of binding and cross-linking due to their
strong interfacial activity. Here, the successful optimization of the interfacial polymerization reaction for the manufacture of OSN
membranes is demonstrated by replacing the common toxic amines used for this method with natural occurring bio-polyphenols
such as dopamine, tannic acid, morin hydrate and catechin. These bio-polyphenols can be found in mussels, date fruits, guava fruits
and green tea respectively and they were used to form a selective thin film on top of a crosslinked polyacrylonitrile or a cellulose
support. These membranes have shown an exceptional performance and resistance towards harsh solvent environments. Due to the
incorporation of natural compounds for the manufacture, they provide a cost-effective alternative for industrial separations due to
the ease of chemical modification and preparation, which is potentially easy to scale up at low cost taking advantage of the natural
compounds for their manufacture.
Biography
Liliana Perez-Manriquez is pursuing her PhD at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST); her main research focuses on the incorporation of natural
compounds for the manufacture of solvent resistant nanofiltration membranes providing a cost-effective alternative for harsh industrial separations processes. These
membranes are easy to reproduce making them potentially easy to scale up at low cost taking advantage of the natural compounds for their manufacture with applications
in pharmaceutical, petrochemical, textile and biotechnological industries. Her research has been showcased in three international conferences so far as a speaker and she
won a poster presentation award in the last euromembrane conference.
Liliana Perez-Manriquez, J Biotechnol Biomater 2017, 7:6 (Suppl)
DOI: 10.4172/2155-952X-C1-085