Green chemistry in membrane technology

High-performance plastics such as various polysulfones or polyvinylbenzene are characterized primarily by properties such as thermoplastic stability, resistance to extreme pH values, or excellent optical properties, and are widely used in medicine as well as industry. A significant drawback of these materials: their production often requires the use of toxic and environmentally hazardous reagents, or these are generated as waste products. Many of these processes currently seem unavoidable in order to offer competitive products on the market, especially due to high cost pressures. In the recently completed project "Functional Membranes for Biotechnological Applications - MembraTech," scientists from Prof. Dr. Roderich Süssmuth's Department of Biological Chemistry succeeded in developing an environmentally friendly process that allows these plastics to be modified gently and more sustainably.

The technology was developed in collaboration with Pentracor GmbH (Hennigsdorf), within the framework of funding from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), and is now intended to be patented.

While initially only polyethersulfone (PES) and polysulfone (PSF) were considered as medically and chemically usable plastics with Pentracor, the process, significantly co-developed by Dr. Victor Prisyazhnoy, also addresses other standard plastics, such as polystyrenes. The new process benefits, among other things, from the use of a new catalyst. Working according to the principles of Green Chemistry, the technology operates at room temperature, making it energy-efficient; the waste products generated are environmentally friendly, and the material can be recycled.

The plastics produced in this way could find broad application in the chemical or pharmaceutical industries, for example in dialysis, as adsorbers, in plastic-based processes for drug production, or in water purification. There are also plans to develop membranes with entirely new properties.

"We continue to cooperate with Pentracor in application development but are additionally seeking interested companies that can provide suitable testing procedures for these innovative materials," says Roderich Süssmuth.

The goals of ERDF (European Regional Development Fund) include strengthening the competitiveness of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and the research and development sector through the promotion of innovative products resulting from collaboration between SMEs and academic institutions in Berlin and Brandenburg.

Further information provided by:

Prof. Dr. Roderich Süssmuth
TU Berlin
Department of Biological Chemistry
Tel.: 030/314-24205
Email: suessmuth@chem.tu-berlin.de