Senior researcher Luiten-Olieman is working on a project called RESOLVE, which focuses on removing molecules from large liquid flows, such as cholesterol from a mixture of acetone and heptane: ‘These are extremely small nanoparticles that we can use in a sustainable way. filter out efficiently. This makes it an innovation that industry and, in fact, society as a whole can build on and benefit from.’
The removal of nanoparticles from liquids usually works perfectly with plastic membranes, but problems arise when removing them from organic solvents. The solvents cause the plastic to swell with prolonged use, the pores close or break and the membrane becomes unusable. Large industrial streams containing organic solvents are therefore still cleaned with traditional and energy-hungry technologies, such as distillation.
Ceramic does not swell
Ceramic membranes are made of natural materials and do not swell. They also have a long lifespan, which makes them a good alternative, says Luiten-Olieman: ‘At RESOLVE we are working on the development and large-scale application of such durable and non-swelling membranes for industrial applications, for example in the chemical or food industry.´
This requires knowledge in various areas: ‘To filter out nanoparticles the size of molecules, you need membranes that function at the same, extremely small level. For that you have to provide them with a coating using Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD). With that technology you can apply layers with the thickness of atoms and make the pores as small as necessary.´
The University of Twente already has extensive knowledge and experience in the field of membranes. You can also go to Twente and TU Delft for the application of coating layers using ALD, says Luiten-Olieman: ‘What is missing in our country is the connection between those two knowledge areas. The Dutch expertise in the field of ALD is mainly focused on application in the chip industry, where the approach is really different from the preparation of membranes.’
Knowledge from France
She went looking for researchers who could bring the two areas of knowledge together and found them in Montpellier: ‘At the European Institute of Membranes (IEM) to be exact. Moreover, with the knowledge they have there, we can start producing the membranes in the form of tubes. This is a wish of the industry, where large surfaces are necessary to efficiently separate the molecules from large volumes of industrial flows. If you use tubes, you get those larger surfaces.´
But Montpellier is located in France and that presented Luiten-Olieman with the next problem: how do you arrange cooperation with a research institute abroad? She started looking again and came across the MfC scheme: ‘This allowed us to hire French knowledge in the way we had in mind.’
Dutch researchers leading the way
In practice, a form of collaboration will arise, in which the Dutch researchers will be leading: ‘We are the client, who hires a French researcher. That researcher works in Montpellier, partly because they have the right facilities there. The application for MfC funds was submitted jointly. The names of a Twentse and a French colleague are also listed below.’
The investigation will start very soon. Luiten-Olieman is clear: ‘It would not have been possible without MfC. Until recently, collaboration with foreign research institutes was simply not possible in this way. At least not with the Dutch research institute as the leading organization, nor with a researcher who will work for us abroad, France in this case. The latter is in turn possible, because our French colleagues from the IEM also receive part of the research budget.’
Boundaries fade away
She speaks of a ‘cool’ arrangement, which makes it easier for parties with different specializations to collaborate across borders: ‘We are now already working on a next research proposal, in which we hope not only to use the knowledge of French, but also of Italian colleagues via MfC. to rent.’
So a ‘cool’ arrangement, but according to Luiten-Olieman are improvements still possible? ‘Certainly, as far as we are concerned, the processing of an application should be faster. Now it takes about seven or eight months and in the meantime the competition from other research institutions is of course not standing still. But that does not alter the fact that we are happy with MfC. This arrangement opens doors that were closed until recently.’