Membrane Technology group

Working within the ECN unit Efficiency & Infrastructure, the Membrane Technology group develops energy efficient technologies for the separation of molecular mixtures with a strong emphasis on inorganic membrane technology. Our goal is to mature emerging technologies which can then be marketed and applied in the (petro)chemical industry. By doing so, we aim to bridge the gap from small scale fundamental research to full size industrial demands. An essential step in this process is to address the requirements of the end user to put the technology into practice and to translate the outstanding issues into the research development & demonstration challenges. For this purpose, ECN has built up a network with (inter)national universities, research institutes, and industrial parties. Our final objective is to provide membrane solutions for energy efficient separations.

Competences

Within the Membrane Technology group, we concentrate on a number of competences that support our technology development. We work closely together with the Process and System Technology and the Hydrogen Production & CO₂ Capture groups. Our core competences are:

• Materials research
  Coating and suspension technology, sol-gel and solid-state chemistry, scaling up, ceramic shaping. 
• Process design
  Flow sheeting of membrane processes with e.g. Aspen+ etc.
• System development
  Module and sealing technology, equipment design and building.
• Implementation facilitation
  Client-oriented pilot testing, pre-commercial membrane samples and module sales (through http://www.hybsi.com/ and http://www.hysep.com/), and test equipment sales, such as the Permporometer and Gas Permeation Installation