미국 캘리포니아 대학의 스핀오프 기업인 WPE(Water Planet Engineering)는 3M과 새로운 폴리머 재질의 멤브레인 제품을 상업화하기 위한 계약을 체결했다.

WPE는 UCLA 대학에서 초기 개발한 Polymeric-Ceramic 멤브레인의 새로운 종류인 멤브레인을 ‘PolyCera’라는 브랜드로 개발하는 것을 추진하고 있다.

오래 전 UCLA 대학 내 캘리포니아 나노시스템 연구소 연구팀과 WPE는 공동으로 폴리머 나노구조를 융합하여 코팅필름 혹은 멤브레인으로 구조화하는 개발을 추진했고, 그 결과 다양한 분야에 적용되게 되었다.

WPE의 PolyCera 멤브레인은 강한 친수성으로 열 및 케미칼에 매우 강한 안정성을 보여주며 파울링 발생도 최소로 하고 있다.

또한 일부 세라믹 멤브레인의 장점을 갖고 있으며, 비용이 적고 충진밀도가 높은 폴리머 멤브레인 특성도 보유하고 있다.

이 같은 새로운 멤브레인 기술 제품의 상업화로 산업체의 분리공정, 수처리·폐수처리 분야, MBR 등의 다양한 분야에 적용될 것으로 예상된다.

Water Planet Engineering (WPE), a spinoff company from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), has entered into a joint development agreement with global company 3M to explore commercial production of a new polymer material with widespread industrial application.

WPE is developing a new class of "polymeric-ceramic" membrane materials, originally developed at UCLA, under the trade name PolyCera™. As part of the agreement, the polymer manufactured by 3M will be used by WPE in the manufacture of their PolyCera membrane separation products.

Over the past decade, UCLA scientists with California NanoSystems Institute and WPE have developed novel methods of synthesizing polymer nano-structures and forming them into coating films and membranes that exhibit unique combinations of material properties and performance characteristics. These attributes make the polymer suited for a range of specialized applications.

"Partnering with Water Planet Engineering to develop novel polymer solutions strengthens the build-out of our polymer platform into new markets," said Paula Hubbard, global business manager, 3M Advanced Materials Division. "The WPE technology demonstrates exciting performance advantages over current membrane materials, and we are energized to take this science to the next level."

"We are very excited to be working with a world-class organization like 3M," said Dr Eric Hoek, CEO of Water Planet Engineering. "Accessing 3M's industry-leading expertise in polymer synthesis is game-changing for WPE as it allows us to focus on our core expertise in membrane formation and application."

WPE's PolyCera membrane technology exhibits a high thermal and chemical stability along with high hydrophilicity and fouling resistance - the combination of which is traditionally associated only with ceramic membranes - while retaining the low cost and high packing density module designs of polymeric membranes. It is envisioned that such a breakthrough membrane product could find widespread use in industrial separations, water and wastewater treatment, membrane bioreactors and beyond.