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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='margin-bottom:12.0pt;text-align:center'><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>UH ChBE Dept. Seminar<br>10:30am-11:30am, Friday, February 12, 2016<br>Rm L2D2<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='margin-bottom:12.0pt;text-align:center'><b><span style='font-size:20.0pt'>Molecular Scale Engineering of New Materials for Energy-Efficient Separations<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>Zachary P Smith<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>University of California, Berkeley<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><b><o:p> </o:p></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt;color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><b><u><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>ABSTRACT:</span></u></b><span style='font-size:14.0pt'> </span><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Garamond","serif"'>Controlling the chemical and morphological structure of polymers and porous materials has dramatic implications on molecular transport within these materials. Therefore, by properly designing new materials, previously unattainable property sets can be achieved for molecule separations. From a practical point of view, such molecular scale engineering is necessary to identify new, environmentally benign, and more energy-efficient separation technologies than those currently practiced. In the U.S., more than 40,000 distillation columns perform more than 200 separations, which accounts for 49% of industrial separation energy consumption. In addition to distillation, environmentally harmful processes such as amine absorption are currently used on very large scales, so a pressing need exists to identify alternatives to these separation technologies. Of particular promise are membrane-based separations, which, unlike distillation, circumvent the enthalpic energy penalty required for phase changes, and, unlike absorption, operate under steady-state conditions without the need for regeneration. Here, three strategies are presented for designing new membrane materials for enhanced separation performance. First, diffusion-selective polymers known as thermally rearranged polymers and second, solubility-selective perfluoropolymers are considered. The mechanism of gas transport in these materials is investigated from the fundamental perspective of gas-polymer interactions and the creation of diffusional pathways for selective transport of small molecules. Third, an alternative approach to improving membrane performance is presented, whereby highly efficient metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) with outstanding adsorption-selectivities are dispersed into polymers matrixes. This final strategy leverages the processability of polymers and the separation performance of MOFs to form composite membranes with property sets far beyond those achievable with polymers alone. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;background:white'><span style='font-size:14.0pt;color:#333333'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;background:white'><span style='font-size:14.0pt;color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><b><u><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>Bio: </span></u></b><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Cambria","serif"'> </span><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Garamond","serif"'>Zachary P. Smith</span></b><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Garamond","serif"'> is currently a postdoctoral scholar in the Department of Chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley. He earned his bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from the Penn State Schreyer Honors College, conducting research with Prof. Hank Foley on porous carbon-based materials for applications in oxygen enrichment. Zach completed his graduate training in Chemical Engineering under the guidance of Profs. Benny Freeman and Don Paul at the University of Texas at Austin, developing structure/property relationships for gas diffusion and sorption in polyimides, perfluoropolymers, and related materials. His postdoctoral training, under the guidance of Prof. Jeffrey Long, focuses on designing coordination solids (i.e., metal-organic frameworks) for selective adsorption-based separations. Zach has co-authored over 20 peer-reviewed publications and has been recognized with several awards including the Department of Energy Office of Science Graduate Fellowship and the ACS Excellence in Graduate Polymer Research Award. He was also selected as a U.S. delegate to the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting on Chemistry in 2013.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-right:2.25pt;text-align:justify;line-height:115%'><span style='font-size:14.0pt;line-height:115%'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:12.05pt'><span style='font-family:"Franklin Gothic Book","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></body></html>