Mr Gobi Raj Sriparan

Research project: Porous materials for water filtration

Abstract

Approximately ~ 70 million tonnes of elemental sulfur is produced as a result of hydrodesulfurisation in petroleum industries. 90% of this is used to synthesise commodity chemicals such as sulfuric acid, but the remainder is stored in stockpiles or compressed into bricks. Thus, finding alternate ways to utilise this waste material is crucial in forthcoming years. Inverse vulcanisation, first reported by Pyun et al. in 2013, has made possible the production of high-sulfur polymers, stabilised against depolymerisation by crosslinking with small molecule dienes. The properties of the synthesised polymers offer a variety of potential application routes - ranging from battery technology to IR-transparent lenses. This project focuses on synthesis, modification and incorporation of sulfur polymers for water remediation purposes.