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We have established two databases, one for organic solvent nanofiltration (OSN) and another one for nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) impurities.

The OSN Database is the first repository for membrane separation data obtained in organic solvents published in September 2021. We envision a future where membrane process and material development relies on data-driven design methodologies. The process design part of any membrane separation are optimized and monitored using machine learning models and the new membrane materials are developed based on the collected data. The database offers several predictive tools for free to use: rejection prediction, enantioseparation prediction, and similarity search. Read the corresponding, open-access article introducing the original database and our opinion on data science in the membrane field.

The NMR Impurities Database contains solvents, acids and basis, including the emerging sustainable alternatives, and was established in March 2023. Besides obtaining new data, we compiled the current and previous works as well. The searchable database facilitates impurity identification. This database forms the basis of an online interface through which users can browse solvent spectra and search for signals of unknown origins to easily identify residual impurities in NMR spectra. In the online Python-based application, the NMR database connects to the website using Flask. A search on the main site triggers a query from the database managed by Pandas. Read the corresponding, open-access article introducing the original database in ACS-SCE.

Congratulations to Fadhilah Alduraiei, Cong Yang, Gergo Ignacz and Jiahui Hu for passing their PhD examination at KAUST during spring 2023. Many thanks to their committee members, namely Profs Peng Wang, Sanat Kumar, Sigurdur Thoroddsen, Carlos Grande, Suzana Nunes, Pedro Castano, Javier Martinez, Jozsef Kupai, Pascal Saikaly and Kyle Lauersen. Their hard work and dedication have paid off, congratulations! Wishing you all the best for your career!

We are partners in the recently launched EU Horizon project called E-TANDEM, which will focus on the efficient production of liquid higher oxygenate e-fuels (HOEF) via hybrid tandem catalytic conversion. The production of a low-emission, climate-neutral e-fuel in a direct production process is the overarching goal of the current EU research project E-TANDEM.

Our role in the project is to evelop membranes and separation processes. We consider organic solvent nanofiltration technology as a sustainable and less energy-intensive alternative to simultaneously separate and in situ recycle the catalyst from the reaction products and achieve a pure higher alcohol/ether phase, aligning with the project’s mission of improving the energy efficiency of HOEF production.

The EU project is coordinated by CSIC and consists of 8 European partners located in Spain, Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands, Croatia and Austria, and two non-European partners located in Saudi Arabia and South Africa. The complete consortium includes: Agenica Estatal Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cienticas (ES), Max-Planck-Gesellschaft (DE), DTU- Technical University of Denmark (DK), OWI Oel-Waerme-Institut GmbH (DE), Uniresearch B.V. (NL), TEC4FUELS GmbH (DE), AVL (AT), GoodFuels (NL), Sveuciliste u Zagrebu (HR), University of Cape Town (ZA) and KAUST (King Abdullah University of Science and Technology) (SA).

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 101083700 and from KAUST.

Congratulations to the team, in particular the first author, Levente Cseri, for pulling this research together. Our article published in Advanced Materials Technologies has just been announced to be among the top cited papers, which generated immediate impact in our community. The article is part of the journal’s special issue on Ion Selective Membranes guest edited by Profs Vicki Chen, Matthias Wessling and Amir Razmjou. Thank you for the invitation!

Check out our new article on ultrathin 12-nm-thick solvent-resistant composite membranes from biosourced dialdehyde starch and priamine building blocks. The article was selected for the front cover of Advanced Membranes. Congratulations to Cong!

Image credit: Hassan A. Tahini @KAUST