David Sholl talks with
ScienceWatch.com and answers a few questions about
this month's Fast Breaking Paper Paper in the field of
Engineering.
Article Title: Assessment of a Metal-Organic Framework
Membrane for Gas Separations Using Atomically Detailed
Calculations: CO2, CH4, N-2, H-2 Mixtures in
MOF-5
Authors: Keskin, S;Sholl, DS
Journal: IND ENG CHEM RES, Volume: 48, Issue: 2, Page: 914-922,
Year: JAN 21 2009
* Georgia Inst Technol, Sch Chem & Biomol Engn, Atlanta, GA
30332 USA.
* Georgia Inst Technol, Sch Chem & Biomol Engn, Atlanta, GA
30332 USA.
Why do you think your paper is highly
cited?
Metal organic frameworks (MOFs) have generated a great deal of excitement
because of the diverse range of crystalline structures than can be
synthesized, but the development of large-scale applications of MOFs is
only just beginning. This paper highlights a path forward for identifying
MOFs that can be used as membranes to tackle some of the most important
energy-related gas separations faced by today's energy industry. These are
problems, like the efficient separation of methane and carbon dioxide,
where new materials are needed to overcome the problems that make existing
processes uneconomical.
Does it describe a new discovery, methodology, or
synthesis of knowledge?
"We are working very closely with academic and
industrial collaborators who are fabricating and testing
membranes informed by our modeling efforts."
The paper describes a new method for modeling MOFs for use as membranes.
Would you summarize the significance of your paper
in layman's terms?
New technologies that allow energy- and cost-efficient management of carbon
dioxide, methane, and other gases will be critical in moving the global
energy economy towards a more sustainable basis. Simply making and testing
complex devices made from hundreds of variants of new materials in a
laboratory is far too time-consuming to allow effective screening of new
materials for these technologies.
We have developed computational modeling tools that allow us to rapidly
choose the best from a large group of candidate materials for making
membranes for gas separations. These tools will play an important role in
focusing laboratory development and scale-up of the best materials for
these important problems.
How did you become involved in this research, and
were there any problems along the way?
My group has been involved in detailed modeling of membranes for around 10
years, and we, like many others, have recently been extremely interested in
understanding whether metal organic framework materials can play a
productive role in this field.
Where do you see your research leading in the
future?
We are working very closely with academic and industrial collaborators who
are fabricating and testing membranes informed by our modeling efforts. Our
hope is that our work and the ongoing work of others in our community will
accelerate the pace of moving towards large-scale commercial application of
devices based on our ideas in generating energy and fuels.
Professor David S. Sholl
Michael Tennenbaum Family Chair
and GRA Eminent Scholar in Energy Sustainability
School of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering
Georgia Institute of Technology
Atlanta, GA, USA Web