Introduction:

Separation is a process to convert a mixture into two or more distinct substances, for example, to get fresh water from seawater. Facing the national and regional demand for high-performance separation material/technology during the course of economic development, the Laboratory of Separation Material and Technology (LSMT) was established in 2012 and has made significant achievements in developing various materials for liquid/liquid, gas/solid, and gas/gas separation. For example, we proposed Aggregation-Induced Separation (AIS) technology to get purified water from crude oil-water mixtures as well as those produced in petrochemical industry with highly emulsified oil droplets in water. The Laboratory has been able to attract quite a number of research grants and funded projects from both government and industry with particular emphasis on applied R&D research. More than 100 papers have been published in international journals since the establishment of the Lab in 2012. In addition, 25 Chinese patents were granted as a research output, and 6 of them has been transferred/licensed to the industry. 2 hi-tech companies (CAS Reamnm, Sainuokai) were founded solely based on the technologies developed by the Laboratory.

The team is a multi-disciplinary one with 13 permanent staff, including 4 professors, 3 associate professors, 6 assistant professors, and over 30 postgraduates. The group leader, Professor Peng-Cheng Ma, is holding a professorship under the National High Level Talent Program. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC).

The Laboratory has established collaborations with various research groups domestically and internationally. Specifically, we are currently working with a research group in Moscow State University to develop high-performance basalt fiber for gas purification. Collaborating with Austrian universities and companies, we are the Chinese side on the China-Austria Joint Research Center on Basalt Fiber and Corresponding Composites.

Research Fields:

1. High-performance basalt fibers for separation

For effective utilization of basalt minerals, we are striving in preparing high-performance basalt fiber for gas separation. Three key issues, i.e., melting properties of basalt, controlling on the fiberization of basalt melt, and formulation of sizing for fiber, are studied in an effort to obtain filament with controlled morphology and surface properties for gas purification.

2. Polymer composites/nanocomposites

The team has been working for more than 10 years in developing polymer-based composites/nanocomposites for environmental and engineering applications. In the separation field, various polymer materials in the form of fibers, composites, foams, aerogels, have been prepared with varying degree of success for oil-water separation. 

3. Carbon-based composites

By using agricultural and forestry wastes as starting materials, we are creating porous and functional carbon, high-performance active carbon and their composites for seawater desalination, ion enrichment, gas adsorption and energy storage. Scale-up process was established for the production of active carbon with an annual productivity of 2000 tons.

Contact:

Peng-Cheng Ma, PhD, Professor & FRSC

Add: No. 40-1, South Beijing Road, Urumqi, 830011, China

Tel:+86-991-6992225

Web: http://people.ucas.ac.cn/~mapc

E-mail:mapc@ms.xjb.ac.cn