THE CHALLENGE
The gas separation industry faces a pressing business and technical challenge: current technologies like amine scrubbing and solid adsorbents are too energy-intensive, corrosive, or inefficient for widespread, cost-effective deployment. Chemical solvents such as aqueous amines require high regeneration temperatures and frequent replacement due to degradation, while solid materials like zeolites and metal-organic frameworks lose performance in humid conditions and operate slowly. Although ionic liquids and membranes offer some improvements, they come with trade-offs like high viscosity, low gas permeability, and mechanical instability. These limitations not only increase operating and maintenance costs but also reduce scalability and reliability across sectors like power generation, natural gas processing, and environmental control in confined spaces. The market urgently needs a new class of sorbents that deliver high gas uptake, fast transport, and stable performance under real-world conditions without driving up energy use or infrastructure costs.
OUR SOLUTION
We offer rigid, sulfonated polyaramid polymer (PBDT) self-assembled with ionic to create solid particles and films combining liquid-like gas sorption and fast transport with high chemical, thermal and mechanical stability. A reverse-phase emulsion process disperses a hot PBDT–IL hydrogel, cools to induce separation, then recharges with ionic liquid. By varying the ionic components, selectivity and permeability for CO2, methane or ammonia can be tuned, achieving high capacities and rapid diffusion. Potential applications include CO2 capture, natural gas purification, spacecraft air revitalization and direct air capture. Unlike liquid amine or solid zeolite systems, these materials retain high ionic loading while overcoming gas transport limitations often seen in encapsulated ionic liquids. The solid-state matrix ensures mechanical robustness, chemical and moisture stability, and thermal resilience, reducing energy demand for sorbent regeneration. Tunable mobile components afford precise control of selectivity and permeability, offering an efficient, durable platform that outperforms conventional gas separation technologies.
Figure: Polarized Optical Microscopy of MIC Particles.
Advantages:
Potential Application: