Membrane Science Commons^™

Beeswax Wraps As An Alternative To Single-Use Plastics, Sarah Skiver

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The project goal was to compare the food storage efficacy of sustainable beeswax wraps verses the single-use plastic methods of resealable plastic sandwich bags and plastic cling wrap. The goal was also to test the reusability of the beeswax wraps, as it is a key advantage of beeswax wraps that is advertised. The project purpose was to explore sustainable and eco-friendly alternatives to single use plastics, which are harmful to the environment in both their production and their disposal. Food spoilage was compared in beeswax wrap, plastic sandwich bags, and plastic cling wrap, and spoilage was also observed in a …

Amine-Functionalized Interpenetrating Polymer Networks For Co2 Capture, James Wills

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The research performed looked to advance the studies of vacuum swing absorption of Carbon Dioxide to help combat global climate change issues. The focus of the project was to create an anime-polymer sorbent that will weakly absorb and desorb CO2. The sorbent must be durable and be able to withstand multiple uses. The creation of a porous polymer matrix aided in the amines' ability to absorb CO2. Created samples underwent several qualitative and quantitative tests to determine their usefulness as an industrial sorbent. Infrared spectroscopy was used to study the effectiveness of the amine sorbents. Studying the changes in the …

Methods For Film Coating Electrospun Fibers, Kristopher Dejean

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Electrospinning uses high voltages to form polymer nanofiber membranes. These membranes have potential for use in filtration, tissue engineering, drug delivery, and catalysis. The nonwoven fiber mat is malleable but has a low tensile strength compared to a solid film of the same polymer. Joining the fibers with a thin film is desired to balance the strength and flexibility. Three methods of producing a film on fiber membrane were tested. The techniques are spraying then melting, spin coating, and dip coating. Electrospinning setup conditions, solvent ratios, damage to fibers, and spin coating speeds were determined. Research was abruptly stopped and …

A Comparison Of Fiber Mat Thickness Measurement Techniques Using Laser Interferometry And Water Displacement, Ryan Seabeck

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Polymer fiber mats may often be very thin which leads to complications in measuring thickness. The thickness of fiber mats, however, is crucial in understanding their behavior. Thickness affects how well the mat works as a filter as well as the pressure drop across the mat, and herein lies the need for accurate measurement techniques. Currently two of the available techniques for measuring mat thickness are by laser interferometry[1] and by buoyancy force when submerged in water[2]. Instead of measuring the buoyancy force in this experiment, an enclosure intended to measure the thickness via water displacement was …

Filtration Apparatus Design For Oil-Water Separation Using Membranes And Sponges, Alec Jerger

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

It can be difficult to separate water and oil emulsions through traditional filtration. Therefore, investigations of filtering using thermo-responsive (TR) polymers, in this case poly(vinyl methyl ether) (PVME), was conducted. It’s hypothesized that below its lower critical solution temperature (LCST), PVME has an affinity for water while oil substances do not. Above the LCST the opposite will be true. To verify this hypothesis, iterations of filtration designs were created to provide optimum control over the parameters to measure flow. The final optimized experimental apparatus was a Chromaflex glass column which was air tight and controlled all parameters besides fluid flow. …

Mass And Charge Transport In Hydrated Polymeric Membranes, Marshall T. Mcdonnell

Doctoral Dissertations

Mass and charge transport through hydrated polymer membranes has significant importance for many areas of engineering and industry. Multi-scale modeling and simulation techniques were used to study transport in relation to two specific membrane applications: (1) food packaging and (2) additives for polymer electrolytes.

Chitosan/chitin films were studied due to their use as a sustainable, biodegradable food packaging film. The effects of hydration on the solvation, diffusivity, solubility, and permeability of oxygen molecules in these films were studied via molecular dynamics and confined random walk simulations. With increasing hydration, the membrane was observed to have a more homogeneous water distribution …