Diffusion in Polymers and Membrane Separation Group - Homepage

tel. 051.2090401
fax: 051.6347788
DICAM Via Terracini 28 40131 Bologna

News:
- Nov 2015
-RESEARCH FELLOW Position Available DEADLINE Nov 27 2015 on Desulphurization of Natural Gas with Membranes. Project. Call for applications
- MEMLAB group Bologna to host the 2016 European Membrane Society Summer School ! "Membranes and Membrane Processes Design" Bertinoro, June 26-July 1st 2016
Brochure

 


July 15th 2014: Watch the new videos describing our experimental equipment !!
- June 3 2014: Research group is admitted into EERA CCS JP (Carbon Capture and Storage Joint Programme)
- July 3 2013: Industrial Engineering Chemistry & Research Special Issue dedicated to prof. Sarti's 65th Birthday
- Sept 2012: G. Cocchi won the best Poster Award at the at EUROMEMBRANE 2012 congress held in London UK and hosted by the European Membrane Society, for the work entitled "Solubility and Diffusivity of Liquids in Polymers Suitable for Membrane Separation Processes: the cases of Matrimid and PDMS"( G. Cocchi, C. Troiano, M. G. De Angelis, F. Doghieri, G.C. Sarti
).
- The Group participates to CIRI Energia e Ambiente, UO Bionenergie . Link
-The Group participates to CIRI Meccanica Avanzata e Materiali, UO Materiali avanzati per la progettazione e applicazioni fotoniche. Link

Research Group
Diffusion in Polymers and Membrane Separation



About us

Download a presentation of the research group

The activity of the group started in the early 80s when Prof. Giulio Sarti joined the Chemical Engineering Department at the University of Bologna after working with Prof. Gianni Astarita at the University of Naples.
Currently, the research group is formed by four permanent staff members: Prof. Sarti, Prof. Doghieri, Dr. Giacinti Baschetti and Dr. De Angelis, together with PostDoc, PhD, undergraduate and visiting research personnel.
Since 2012 the group joined the new Department of Civil, Chemical, Environmental and Materials Engineering (DICAM) at UNIBO.

Research is devoted to the study of gas, vapor and liquid diffusion, permeation and sorption in rubbery and glassy polymers and membranes, in the pure or multicomponent state, and models to interpret and predict the thermodynamic and mass transport properties in polymers and polymeric solutions.

A fully equipped laboratory is available to measure fluid solubility, diffusivity and permeability in solid materials: gravimetric, manometric, flowmetric, InfraRed equipment as well as rheometry.
A specific thermodynamic model named NELF (Non Equilibrium Lattice Fluid) has been developed: NELF model is able to estimate gas or vapor solubility in glassy polymers based only on PVT properties of pure components, and was generalized in order to include most recent equation of state models, such as PHSC and SAFT ones (NET-GP approach).
Mass transport models are also studied to describe non Fickian effects in diffusion in solid polymers and specifically to address the effect of stress.

Applications include:
-Optimization of polymer processing technology (desolventization, foaming, ..)
-Design of gas, liquid and vapor membrane separation processes such as:
    -H2 purification
    -CO2 capture and removal
    -Biogas upgrading
    -Pervaporation
    -Organic Solvent Permeation
- Development of novel packaging materials with improved barrier properties
- Development and modeling of membrane materials for proton exchange membrane fuel cells
- Development and modeling of novel nanocomposite and mixed matrix materials
- Development of thermodynamic models for the prediction polymer phase equilibria

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