Meeting the future water demands is an increasingly critical problem as we continue to detect the presence of emerging contaminants in our drinking water sources. Several of these contaminants cannot be removed using commonly available treatment technologies. With the advent of nanotechnology and the ability to control materials at the molecular scale, catalysis, which was once only feasible in industrial processes, is becoming a practical treatment option for drinking water. One of the major issues with the application of nano-sized or single-atom catalysts is that they require a support. Often this is a solid media that is packed into a bed, which has inherent mass transfer limitations. Thin membranes provide short transport lengths from the bulk liquid to the catalysts sites, resulting in fast kinetics that are not limited by diffusion. In this presentation, I will discuss our ongoing efforts at making three-phase catalytic membranes for the hydrogenation of oxidized contaminants, including new data on the synthesis a copolymer membrane with coordinating sites for attaching palladium catalysts that approach sub-nanometer lengths.

Catalytic membranes as an efficient and scalable technology for treating oxidized contaminants in drinking water

Fall 2022 abstracts, posters, and presentations will launch in mid-September.

ACS Fall 2022

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.