據油氣新聞網站7月20日消息 來自埃克森美孚公司、喬治亞理工學院和倫敦帝國理工學院的科學家發表了一項聯合研究報告，探討了一種新的膜技術可能取得的突破，該技術可以減少與煉油相關的排放和能源強度。實驗室測試表明，在未來的幾年里，這種正在申請專利的膜可以用來取代煉油廠的一些熱密集蒸餾。

這項研究的結果目前發表在國際同行評議期刊Science上。

埃克森美孚研究與工程公司負責研發的副總裁維杰·斯瓦魯普表示：“通過與佐治亞理工學院和帝國理工學院等實力雄厚的學術機構合作，我們正不斷致力于開發未來的低排放能源解決方案。”

斯瓦魯普說：“受到反滲透技術的啟發，反滲透技術將水凈化的能量強度降低了10倍，我們決定研究使用新材料進行液體分離的方法，如果將這種新材料應用于工業規模，可以顯著減少相關的溫室氣體排放。這是埃克森美孚正在研究的許多新材料之一，目的是降低我們業務中的能源強度和二氧化碳含量。”

研究成功地證明，汽油和噴氣燃料的主要成分石腦油和煤油可以用壓力代替熱量從輕質原油中分離出來，與傳統的基于熱的蒸餾方法相比，顯著降低了排放和能源消耗。

自2014年以來，科學家團隊一直致力于尋找先進的隔膜，以分離輕質頁巖原油，所用能源明顯低于典型煉油工藝。在汽油和噴氣燃料領域，研究小組開發的膜的效率是目前使用的最具選擇性的商業膜的兩倍。

王磊 摘譯自 油氣新聞

原文如下：

ExxonMobil collaboration signals breakthrough in membrane technology

Scientists from ExxonMobil, the Georgia Institute of Technology and Imperial College of London have published joint research on potential breakthroughs in a new membrane technology that could reduce emissions and energy intensity associated with refining crude oil. Laboratory tests indicate the patent-pending membrane could be used to replace some heat-intensive distillation at refineries in the years ahead.

Results of the research were published today in the international peer-reviewed journal, Science.

“Through collaboration with strong academic institutions like Georgia Tech and Imperial, we are constantly working to develop the lower-emissions energy solutions of the future," said Vijay Swarup, vice president of research and development at ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Company.

“Inspired by reverse osmosis technology that has reduced energy intensity tenfold for water purification, we decided to look into ways to use new materials for liquids separation, which if brought to industrial scale, could significantly reduce associated greenhouse gas emissions,” said Swarup. “This is one of many new materials ExxonMobil is researching to reduce energy intensity and CO 2 in our operations.”

The research successfully demonstrated that naphtha and kerosene—the primary components of gasoline and jet fuel—can be separated from light crude oil using pressure instead of heat, reducing emissions and energy consumption significantly compared to traditional, heat-based distillation methods.

Since 2014, the team of scientists has worked to identify advanced membranes to separate light shale crude oil using significantly less energy than used in typical refining processes. In the gasoline and jet fuel range, the membranes developed by the team are twice as effective as the most selective commercial membranes in use today.