Separating mixtures using single-file and dualmodediffusion

POS Bio-Sciences currently performs extractions, fractionations, and purifications on a variety of biobased
materials including food ingredients, health ingredients, nutraceuticals, agricultural materials,
and cosmetics. Access to improved separation techniques will allow POS Bio-Sciences to offer
enhanced solutions to its current client base and potentially provide new services to the
pharmaceutical industry, which has high standards for sample purity. This project will use molecularbased
simulation techniques to develop and optimize a nanofluidic separation technique that uses the
unique properties of single-file and dual-mode diffusion that are observed in highly confined fluid
systems. This new technique has the potential to separate mixtures into samples with a highly narrow
distribution of particle sizes, thus improving on current ultrafiltration methods.

Faculty Supervisor:

Richard Bowles

Student:

Partner:

KeyLeaf

Discipline:

Physics

Sector:

Environmental Science and Technology

University:

University of Saskatchewan

Program: