b'Innovative Materials andNovel membrane chemistry and separations process can reduce the cost of Coatings for Sweep Gasthe energy required to produce ethanol by 30% as compared to traditional Membrane Distillation todistillation separation.Separate Bioethanol fromT he objective of this project was to develop an innovative, robust, and economically viable omniphobic (repels all compounds) membrane for a Fermentation Broth sweep gas membrane distillation process that uses low grade heat sources (such as nuclear or solar heat) to recover/separate bioethanol from the slurry after fermentation. The membrane is part of a fouling resistant ethanol separation process that can reduce the cost of bioethanol separation by producing game-changing improvements to membrane distillation through advanced membrane materials. Researchers hypothesized that a novel molecular surface layer of an omniphobic TOTAL APPROVED AMOUNT:compound could be attached to the membrane surface in a way that maintains the $115,000 over 1 year mechanical properties and porosity of the membrane and improve the membrane performance (permeance and fouling resistance).PROJECT NUMBER: 20A1047-018 An omniphobic membrane was developed that is porous and has fouling resistant properties, creating a more efficient and cost-effective membrane for bioethanol-PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR:water separation. This membrane was prepared by the layer-by-layer deep Birendra Adhikari coating of a polyvinylidene difluoride membrane material and 1H,1H,2H,2H-CO-INVESTIGATORS: perfluorodecyltriethoxysilane as an omniphobic surface coating. A commercially Aaron Wilson, INL available membrane was purchased, tested, and characterized as the starting Christopher Orme, INL membrane material. Forward osmosis and membrane distillation membranes were John Klaehn, INL built in-house as part of this project and were used for the separation tests. In-house nitrogen gas was used as the sweep gas for these experiments. Concentrated aqueous slurries containing: (1) 10% by weight of ethanol only; and (2) fermentation broth with 10% by weight ethanol were used as feeds for the membrane distillation process. The clean and concentrated ethanol was recovered as the product. It was found that the commercially available membrane had ethanol-water selectivity of 2.2 to 2.5 and the membrane developed under this research has ethanol-water selectivity of 3.2 to 3.5. A technoeconomic analysis model developed as a part of this project shows that these omniphobic membranes can reduce the cost of the energy required to produce ethanol by 30% as compared to traditional distillation separation.(a) (b) (c) (d) (e)(a) Commercially available membrane, (b) modified ominphobic membrane, (c) omniphobic membrane after use, (d) membrane system, and (e) fermentation broth.81'