ORNL researchers discover new class of porous membranes boosting biofuel production efficiencies

In Tennessee, researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory set out to determine what could increase production speeds and improve the quality of biofuels and bioproducts. What they discovered is a new class of porous membranes—a high performance architecture surface-selective (HIPAS) membrane technology.

Supported by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Bioenergy Technologies Office, this new class of high-performance membrane technology can be used to improve the efficiency of biofuel separations, effectively lowering the cost of biofuel production and helping BETO advance its goal of creating cost-competitive, domestically-produced fuels.