PhD on Development of nanofiltration membranes for selective ion recovery
The aim of this research is to build host-functionalized polyelectrolyte Layer-by-Layer (LbL) membranes for the selective transport of mobile guest molecules (i.e. the desired nutrients). The first major pillar of the project is the selection and chemical synthesis of the required functional polyelectrolytes.
The aim of this research is to build host-functionalized polyelectrolyte Layer-by-Layer (LbL) membranes for the selective transport of mobile guest molecules (i.e. the desired nutrients). The first major pillar of the project is the selection and chemical synthesis of the required functional polyelectrolytes. To derive structure-property-performance relationships, the second pillar includes dedicated process performance evaluation of the developed membrane chemistries. This includes fundamental laboratory experiments using ideal solutions with systematically increasing complexity (multicomponent mixtures), but also the testing of the best performing membranes with real manure streams and at larger scale (0.1 m2 membrane module area) at the industrial partner sites.
This PhD research is executed within the framework of the NWO-LIFT project ‘No time to waste’. Next to fundamental, academic research, it involves strong collaboration with the associated industrial project partners (Darling Ingredients International, Agrifirm Group, FrieslandCampina, Van Drie Group, Agra-Matic, ForFarmers Nederland)