TY - JOUR AU - Alqadhi, N. AU - Oldal, D.G. AU - Gopalsamy, K. AU - Abdulhamid, M.A. AU - Székely, György TI - Poly(ether-ether-ketone) copolymers featuring sulfonyl moieties for organic solvent nanofiltration membranes JF - SEPARATION AND PURIFICATION TECHNOLOGY J2 - SEP PURIF TECHNOL VL - 355 PY - 2025 PG - 11 SN - 1383-5866 DO - 10.1016/j.seppur.2024.129628 UR - https://m2.mtmt.hu/api/publication/35424842 ID - 35424842 N1 - Export Date: 26 August 2025; CODEN: SPUTF AB - Poly(ether-ether-ketone) (PEEK) is an attractive material for membrane fabrication due to its exceptional thermal and chemical stability. However, traditional PEEK processing necessitates the use of harsh chemicals, such as sulfuric acid because of its limited solubility in organic solvents. To overcome this limitation, copolymers offer a solution by enhancing solubility and subsequently improving membrane characteristics such as permeability and selectivity. Herein, three novel copolymers – PEEK with various contents of SO2 and CH3 – were developed and used in membranes for the separation of polar and non-polar solvents. The chemical structure of the copolymers was tailored by varying the monomer ratio between 0.25 and 0.75 for CH3 and SO2 containing monomers. Diamine–crosslinked PEEK copolymer membranes were prepared using a green solvent (TamiSolve). The effects of the polymer structure, the dope solution rheology, and membrane properties together with separation performance were studied. The resulting membranes demonstrated a permeance for acetonitrile ranging from 7.4 to 8.2 L m−2 h−1 bar−1 with molecular weight cutoffs of 839–915 g mol−1. Molecular dynamic simulations were conducted to explore the interaction between the copolymers and nine different organic solvents. Our findings underscore the significance of copolymer design in achieving tailored membrane properties for diverse separations. © 2024 Elsevier B.V. LA - English DB - MTMT ER - TY - JOUR AU - Esposito, R. AU - Di Vincenzo, M. AU - Gopalsamy, K. AU - Ganesan, S. AU - Upadhyaya, L. AU - Grande, C. AU - Székely, György AU - Nunes, S.P. TI - Membranes for the pervaporation of solvent azeotropes: from molecular to process design JF - CHEMICAL ENGINEERING JOURNAL J2 - CHEM ENG J VL - 515 PY - 2025 PG - 17 SN - 1385-8947 DO - 10.1016/j.cej.2025.163728 UR - https://m2.mtmt.hu/api/publication/36199525 ID - 36199525 N1 - Funding Agency and Grant Number: King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) [BAS/1/1057-01-01, REI/1/5240-01-01] Funding text: This work was sponsored by King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) . Fig. 1 and the graphical abstract were created by Ana Bigio, a scientific illustrator at KAUST. The research reported in this publication was supported by baseline BAS/1/1057-01-01 and NTGC-AI (REI/1/5240-01-01) grant at KAUST. This work used computational resources at the Supercomputing Laboratory at KAUST. AB - The separation of organic solvents in the chemical industry is highly energy-intensive, particularly when dealing with azeotropic solvent mixtures for which conventional distillation is ineffective. Addressing the growing environmental concerns, waste generation, and high energy consumption associated with solvent lifecycles requires the development of highly permeable and selective membranes for sustainable solvent recovery. Pervaporation represents a promising, energy-efficient alternative. In this work, we report the fabrication of thin-film composite membranes exhibiting outstanding permselectivity for toluene–methanol mixtures, achieved through interfacial polymerization. The polarity of the nanofilms was enhanced through the incorporation of various hydrophilic amine-functionalized structures. By precisely overcoming the trade-off between selectivity and permeability observed in previously reported polymeric pervaporation membranes. The highest separation performance was attained by combining interfacial polymerization with post-functionalization using polyethyleneimine, yielding an impressive separation factor of 642 and a flux of 4.1 kg m−2h−1. This corresponds to 800 % improvement in selectivity compared to the control polyamide membrane for a 10 wt% methanol and 90 wt% toluene mixture. Long-term stability tests demonstrated the remarkable durability of the post-functionalized membranes, with minimal permeance variation in the methanol concentration of the permeate (∼1.5 %). Process simulations confirmed that integrating pervaporation with distillation enables significantly more energy-efficient and cost-effective operations, underscoring the potential of the developed membranes for polar-non-polar solvent separation applications. An energy balance analysis further highlighted the substantial energy efficiency gains achievable with hybrid pervaporation-distillation systems compared to conventional methods. © 2025 Elsevier B.V. LA - English DB - MTMT ER - TY - JOUR AU - Alqadhi, Nawader AU - Abdellah, Mohamed H. AU - Nematulloev, Sarvarkhodzha AU - Mohammed, Omar F. AU - Abdulhamid, Mahmoud A. AU - Székely, György TI - Solution-processable poly(ether-ether-ketone) membranes for organic solvent nanofiltration: from dye separation to pharmaceutical purification JF - SEPARATION AND PURIFICATION TECHNOLOGY J2 - SEP PURIF TECHNOL VL - 328 PY - 2024 PG - 12 SN - 1383-5866 DO - 10.1016/j.seppur.2023.125072 UR - https://m2.mtmt.hu/api/publication/34364278 ID - 34364278 N1 - Export Date: 22 August 2025; CODEN: SPUTF AB - Through polymer engineering, the membrane properties can be considerably changed and its performance can be improved. Organic solvent nanofiltration (OSN) membranes require polymers with good solution processability to facilitate membrane preparation. However, the resultant membranes should have excellent solvent resistance. Poly(ether-ether-ketone) (PEEK) is a potential polymer for OSN applications because of its high thermal stability and excellent solvent resistance. However, commercial PEEK has limited solution processability, and its fabrication requires a harsh acidic environment. Herein, two customized PEEKs were synthesized by incorporating methyl (-CH3) and sulfonyl (SO2) groups into the polymer backbone. The membranes were prepared by phase inversion using N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP) and TamiSolve as a green alternative. The effects of the polymer structure, green solvent, and crosslinking on the membrane morphology, chemical and mechanical stability, as well as separation performance have been examined. The molecular interaction between organic solvents and PEEKs were investigated through molecular dynamic simulations and density functional theory. The molecular weight cutoff (MWCO) values of the membranes were 540-768 g mol-1, with a high corresponding permeance of 8.2-20 L m- 2 h-1 bar-1 in acetone. The long-term stability of membranes was successfully demonstrated over two weeks through a continuous crossflow filtration using acetone under a pressure of 30 bar. The membranes demonstrated excellent active pharmaceutical ingredient purification through the removal a 2-methoxyethoxymethyl chloride (125 g mol-1) carcinogenic impurity from roxithromycin (837 g mol-1). LA - English DB - MTMT ER - TY - JOUR AU - Marchetti, P AU - Solomon, MFJ AU - Székely, György AU - Livingston, AG TI - Molecular Separation with Organic Solvent Nanofiltration: A Critical Review JF - CHEMICAL REVIEWS J2 - CHEM REV VL - 114 PY - 2014 IS - 21 SP - 10735 EP - 10806 PG - 72 SN - 0009-2665 DO - 10.1021/cr500006j UR - https://m2.mtmt.hu/api/publication/24740513 ID - 24740513 N1 - Export Date: 22 August 2025; CODEN: CHREA LA - English DB - MTMT ER -