The Advanced Membranes and Porous Materials Center is one of the research centers at King Abdullah University for Science and Technology (KAUST) in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It focuses on developing new active materials, advanced porous materials, synthetic membranes, and modern global technologies that provide solutions to challenges related to securing energy, water, and a sustainable environment.
Objectives of the Advanced Membranes and Porous Materials Center
The Advanced Membranes and Porous Materials Center aims to reduce costs and mitigate environmental damages associated with the purification and conversion of petroleum and industrial commodities, which currently consume between 45 percent and 55 percent of global industrial energy.
Activities of the Advanced Membranes and Porous Materials Center
The Advanced Membranes and Porous Materials Center organizes several scientific activities, including the research conference 'New Materials Horizon for Energy-Intensive Industrial Separations,' held in 2017. The conference discussed high-impact research topics in advanced materials science and presented potential solutions for efficient industrial separation processes in energy conservation. It focused on high-impact separation processes and clean environment initiatives conducted in the Kingdom and offered special sessions on natural gas separation processes, petrochemical separation processes, and carbon dioxide capture and storage.
In 2023, the center organized the 'KAUST Research Conference on Membranes and Porous Materials for Saudi Vision 2030: Essential Pillars for a Sustainable Future,' attended by specialized experts from within and outside the Kingdom. They discussed topics including potential engineering solutions for energy-intensive separation processes in the context of energy security and environmental sustainability.
Researches of the Advanced Membranes and Porous Materials Center
The center conducts research in sustainable manufacturing based on a proven statistic that the chemical industry actually wastes more than 50 percent of energy to produce its products, whether it is a chemical commodity, a mobile phone polymer, or a fine pharmaceutical compound. Most of this energy waste occurs during purification or isolation processes of the desired molecule from the complex mixture in which it was produced.
The research focuses on developing a technology that can reduce energy consumption by 90 percent by replacing thermal chemical separation processes with selective porous membrane technology, which filters the desired product simply at ambient temperature, achieving a significant increase in efficiency.
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