Patricia Gorgojo

• The University of Manchester

Polymers of intrinsic microporosity (PIMs) have received considerable attention for making high-performance membranes for carbon dioxide separation over the last two decades, owing to their highly permeable porous structures. However, challenges regarding its relatively low selectivity, physical aging, and plasticisation impede relevant industrial...

Biomethane has been highlighted as an energy transition carrier in the quest for a resilient bioeconomy. Advances in its production process are accompanied by the need for new efficient separation...

This study showcases the remarkable permeate flux rates achieved in water desalination using phase-inversion polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF) membranes by the incorporation of clay nanoparticles within the polymer matrix, leading to...

Superglassy membranes synthesised by polymers of intrinsic microporosity (PIMs) suffer from physical aging and show poor gas permeance over time, especially thin membranes, due to the fast rearrangement of nonequilibrium polymer chains. Herein, we constructed a novel PIM‐1 thin film nanocomposite membrane (TFN) using nanosized UiO‐66‐NH2 (~10 nm)/c...

Polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) membranes containing hydrophobic graphene nanofillers were prepared and tested for membrane distillation applications. The nanofillers were obtained by a two-step process: 1st) chemical grafting of hydrophobic molecules, either octylamine (OA) or perfluoroctylamine (PFOA), to graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets, and 2nd) c...

Membrane distillation (MD) is constantly acknowledged in the research literature as a promising technology for the future of desalination, with an increasing number of studies reported year after year. However, real MD applications still lag behind with only a few pilot-plant tests worldwide. The lack of technology transfer from academia to industr...

Graphene oxide (GO)-enhanced membranes are being developed to solve major limitations in both reverse osmosis (RO) and membrane distillation (MD) technologies, which include high electricity and thermal energy consumption. This study performed, for the first time, a life cycle assessment to determine the effects of using GO-enhanced membranes on th...

The solubility and involved energies of organic acids in green solvents are relevant to the design of sustainable biorefinery downstream processes. In this work, the solubility of two important bio-based organic acids such as succinic acid and fumaric acid, in water and four bio-based solvents (i.e., ethyl acetate, 1,8-cineole, cyclopentyl methyl e...

Membrane distillation (MD) is a useful method for the purification of difficult feedwaters but it cannot be applied in a range of industries due to pore wetting. In this work, graphene oxide (GO) laminate coatings are explored to overcome the pore wetting issues. Air gap MD (AGMD) configuration was considered, using a 35 g L⁻¹ NaCl solution with 15...

PIM-1-based freestanding mixed matrix membranes (MMMs) and thin film nanocomposites (TFNs) were prepared by incorporating porous silica nanosheets (SN) and exfoliated SN (E-SN) derived from natural vermiculite (Verm) in the PIM-1 polymer matrix. In addition, SN were functionalized by sulfonic acid and amine groups (S-SN and N-SN, respectively) and...

In this work, thin film nanocomposite (TFN) membranes of super-glassy polymer PIM-1 containing zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8)/graphene oxide (GO) composites (ZG) have been prepared by dip-coating onto water pre-impregnated polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) substrates. Higher flux and improved separation factors as compared to bare PIM-1 thin...

PIM-1 mixed matrix membranes (MMMs) were fabricated with polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS) and graphene oxide (GO) functionalized with POSS (GO-POSS), and tested for CO2/N2 (single gas) and CO2/CH4 (1:1, v:v gas mixture). The CO2 permeability of the best performing fresh MMM (containing 0.05 wt% GO-POSS) was ∼ 12000 Barrer, which is 69% h...

Blending as a modification method of membranes has gained much attention recently in the membrane industry, membrane material, and process development. The major preferred criterion in any membrane process/materials is to possess high performance in terms of flux and selectivity, as well as reduced fouling parameters. Polyethersulfone (PES) membra...

Supported liquid membranes (SLMs) containing novel green solvents are proposed as a sustainable alternative separation process in the recovery of biomolecules. In this work, succinic acid has been successfully extracted from model fermentation broths through a stripping phase-facilitated transport mechanism with four different green supported liqui...

This chapter gives a comprehensive overview of the liquid membrane (LM) technology applied for sustainable separations. The basic concepts and definitions of LMs are presented, along with a selection of the most relevant applications for the development of sustainable processes. Fundamental aspects inherent to the liquid membrane operation are give...

Loss of free volume over time (i.e. aging) is the main hurdle towards the commercial use of super glassy polymers for gas separation membranes. Aging takes place at a much...

With the continuous growth of the world population, the demand for fresh water is ever increasing. Water desalination is a means of producing fresh water from saline water, and one of the proposed solutions in the scientific community for solving the current global freshwater shortage. Adsorption is foreseen as a promising technology for desalinati...

Membrane morphology of integrally skinned asymmetric membranes made by phase inversion can be tailored by precise control of the thermodynamic properties of the casting solution. In this work, the morphology of polyethersulfone (PES) and polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) membranes containing graphene oxide (GO) and their phase separation behavior have...

Physical aging represents one of the major obstacles towards adoption of polymer of intrinsic microporosity (PIM) membranes for gas separation applications. In this work, mixed matrix membranes (MMMs) of 2D boron nitride nanosheets (BNNS) and PIM-1 were prepared and applied in the separation of a CO2/CH4 (1:1, v:v) binary gas mixture. The membranes...

Membrane distillation (MD) is an emerging thermal-based membrane technology that has the capacity to treat a wide range of feed waters, including high salinity brines and wastewater. Compared with pressure-driven processes, MD has the following advantages: low electrical energy consumption, complete removal of non-volatile solutes and ambient opera...

This work demonstrates very high removal rates (below the detection limit of 0.045 ppb) of inorganic arsenic from water using electrospun polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF) membranes enhanced by the addition of functionalized graphene oxide in membrane distillation. This shows potential for applications in the many parts of the world suffering from a...

Physical aging is currently a major obstacle for the commercialization of PIM-1 membranes for gas separation applications. A well-known approach to reversing physical aging effects of PIM-1 membranes at laboratory scale is soaking them in lower alcohols, such as methanol and ethanol. However, this procedure does not seem applicable at industrial le...

Studies of blends of topologically distinct samples of the polymer of intrinsic microporosity PIM-1 provide, for the CO 2 /N 2 gas pair, insight into the optimum loop topology required for high selectivity and permeance of thin film composite (TFC) membranes.

Superglassy polymers have emerged as potential membrane materials for several gas separation applications, including acid gas removal from natural gas. Despite the superior performance shown at laboratory scale, their use at industrial scale is hampered by their large drop in gas permeability over time due to physical aging. Several strategies are...

A strategy to reduce the physical aging in PIM-1 membranes by incorporating novel functionalized graphene oxide (GO) fillers is reported. PIM-1 was covalently attached both to as-synthesized GO and to GO reacted with (3-aminopropyl)triethoxysilane (APTS-GO), leading to homogeneous dispersion of the nanofillers in the mixed matrix membranes (MMMs)....

A low crosslink density (LCD) network-PIM-1, which offers high compatability with the polymer of intrinsic microporosity PIM-1, is synthesised by a modified PIM-1 polycondensation that combines both a tetrafluoro- and an octafluoro- monomer. To maximise the advantages of utilising such crosslinked PIM-1 fillers in PIM-1-based mixed matrix membranes...

The synthesis of PIM-1 is reported from step growth polymerizations of 5,5',6,6'-tetrahydroxy-3,3,3',3'-tetramethyl-1,1'-spirobisindane (TTSBI) with the commercially cheaper monomer, tetrachloroterephthalonitrile (TCTPN). Nitrogen purged polymerizations (100 - 160 C) were quenched after a monitored increase in viscosity. A combination of multiple...

Microporous polymer nanosheets with thicknesses in the range 3–5 nm and with high apparent surface area (Brunauer–Emmett–Teller surface area 940 m2 g−1) are formed when the effectively bifunctional (tetrafluoro) monomer used in the preparation of the prototypical polymer of intrinsic microporosity PIM‐1 is replaced with an effectively tetrafunction...

Direct Methanol Fuel Cell (DMFC) is one of the most attractive and effective source of energy for portable applications. Methanol, which is used as fuel, is a manageable liquid with excellent energy storage densities. Beside the advantages of the DMFC, some main issues are still present in the performance of this fuel cell. One of the major disadva...