What are the innovative water filtration solutions being developed by Molymem?
Molymem is a start-up company developing innovative water filtration solutions. So what are the innovative water filtration solutions they develop? This time, I would like to introduce the following topic.
What is the water filtration solution developed by Molymem?
Molymem is a startup that aims to develop innovative water filtration solutions, spun out of the lab of Professor Robert Dryfe and Dr. Mark Bissett at the University of Manchester.
What is innovative about the filtration technology they are developing is that it is more environmentally friendly and less costly than conventional filtration technology. Let’s take a closer look at this filtration solution.
There is a method using membrane technology for conventional water filtration. Since this method does not require chemical additives and has a simple structure, it is also preferred for purification techniques such as disinfection and distillation other than filtration. Polymers such as polysulfone and polyamide are often used for filtration membranes, but these have drawbacks such as not being able to be used at high temperatures and being resistant to acids and alkalis. There are other candidate materials, but ceramic membranes are expensive, and zeolite membranes have the problem of low water flux. Another option is graphene oxide. However, graphene oxide swells when exposed to water, and the low rate of removing ions from seawater is also an issue. Recently, it has been suggested that materials such as transition metal dichalcogenides are suitable for water filtration, but there are still few research reports on them.
So Molymem uses MoS 2 (molybdenum disulfide) in its water filtration solution. Please see the diagram below. Water permeates from top to bottom. And MoS 2 is shown in dark brown in the figure . Can you get an idea of how this layered structure effectively removes Na (sodium) and Cl (chlorine) from water? By the way, Dyes refers to the dye used to measure the permeability of this MoS 2 filtration membrane.
By using this MoS 2 , unlike graphene oxide, it does not swell due to water and does not reduce the ion removal rate. In addition, it has been confirmed that it is resistant to pH changes such as alkalinity and acidity, that it has a durability of over 6 months, and that it has a large flow rate. In other words, research results have been presented that seem to dispel the problems of conventional water filtration membrane technology.
How was it? This Molymem-developed MoS 2 -based water filtration solution could be applied in various industries with the benefits mentioned above. It is a wonderful technology that is expected to be used in various fields such as wastewater treatment, drug development, food and food production.
