Page 36 - Book of Invited & Keynotes Talks

th
8 Biannual Conference on Chemistry - CHEM 08

Development of Polymer Membranes in Geesthacht:
A Contribution to A Sustainable Society

1,2
Volker Abetz
1 Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht, Institute of Polymer Research, Max-
Planck-Str. 1,
21502 Geesthacht, Germany

2 University of Hamburg, Institute of Physical Chemistry, Martin-Luther-
King-Platz 6, 20146 Hamburg, Germany

ABSTRACT
Membrane technology is present in everyday life but its potential for energy
and resource efficient cleaning and processing of water, air, and chemicals
is not fully exploited. Besides process engineering also membrane
development and especially material development are important
parameters on the way to develop competitive membrane processes.
Polymers are very attractive candidates for membranes in many separation
tasks, as they are much cheaper, easier to upscale and easier to handle in
applications as compared to ceramic or metallic membranes. Polymers fail,
however, if separations have to be carried out at very high temperatures or
under chemically very harsh conditions.
In this contribution a few highlights in the material development of polymer
membranes will be presented. On one side these will be block copolymers
as candidates for a new generation of ultrafiltration membranes and on the
other side dense microphase separated multiblock copolymer membranes
and membranes obtained from thermally rearranged polymers for gas
separation will be presented.

BOOK OF INVITED SPEAKERS & KEYNOTES CHEM 08 (2020) Page 36