Abstract

Chemical separations are of immense and increasing importance in the modern world. Separation steps are involved in producing every chemical product. With continuing concerns about energy efficiency and recognition of negative impacts of continued use of fossil fuels, new non-thermal technologies are desperately needed to revolutionize chemical separations in commodity chemicals applications in much the same way that reverse osmosis separations have revolutionized seawater desalination. In addition, chemical separations are vital in other areas of significant societal need. For example, targeted chemical separations are critical to management of radioactive waste and analytical separations that can be applied to complex mixtures are vital in streamlining development of new drugs and detecting environmental contaminants. Unfortunately, the research communities working on the disparate challenges listed above typically work in isolation. This conference will bring together chemists, materials scientists and chemical engineers working with a wide range of separations technologies. The ability for attendees to learn cutting edge information from a diverse range of applications domains will be attractive to both seasoned researchers and early career professionals.