SynHiSel project to reinvent chemical separation methods

The EPSRC-funded programme will investigate how to develop more efficient ways of separating chemicals – processes that underpin crucial parts of everyday life including clean water treatment, CO2 removal and food and pharmaceutical production.

It is estimated that these separations currently consume 10-15 per cent of total energy usage, and could be made ten times more efficient by creating new highly selective membranes.

Principal investigator Prof. Davide Mattia, of Bath University’s Department of Chemical Engineering and Centre for Advanced Separations Engineering (CASE) said that SynHiSel aims to help the UK lead in developing new high value, high efficiency chemical processing techniques.

“We want to improve our understanding of highly selective membrane technology to create value in manufacturing and make processes more sustainable,” said Mattia.

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“Put simply, membranes work by retaining something and letting something else through – characteristics we call selectivity and permeance. Depending on the application, the value may be in either what’s retained, or what’s let through.”