The award comes for Switchable Polarity Solvent Forward Osmosis, which purifies industrial wastewater, offering significant benefit to the environment in water-intensive industrial processes such as fracking for oil and gas.
Awards will be presented in Nov. 7 at a banquet in Orlando, Fla.
The technology cleanses industrial wastewater by using the switching qualities of selected specialized thermolytic salts (a class of catalysts) purifying water from extremely concentrated solutions. These can contain salts, organics, inorganics, biologics and many other materials.
Once the water is drawn through a specialized semi-permeable membrane, the diluted solute is exposed to low-grade heat, which causes the thermolytic salts to release carbon dioxide and switch to an oily insoluble material. This oily material is physically separated from the water, permitting its reuse.
In addition to INL, several national labs were recognized this year for their work. Follow this link for a full list: http://www.rdmag.com/award-winners/2013/07/2013-r-d-100-award-winners.
Here is a link to the YouTube video explaining the process: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrXqKAlQC-Q#at=97.
Here is a link to the YouTube video explaining the process: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrXqKAlQC-Q#at=97.
