Sophisticated chemical separations are an essential step in industrial production and environmental protection, from ensuring the safety of consumer products to keeping municipal drinking water clear of contaminants, from helping astronauts breathe in outer space to keeping tabs on rouge nuclear activity.

All products that use chemicals—from paints and shampoo to detergents and toothpaste—rely on these techniques for purification and to make sure they’re safe for consumption and use. And they’re vital to environmental efforts like keeping water sources free from agricultural runoff, remediating brownfield sites and cleaning up other pollutants.

Our researchers are refining separations for all these applications and more. They’re purifying isotopes for medical use and nuclear forensics. They’re developing a membrane-based separation system to extract carbon dioxide from the air onboard spacecrafts. And they’re developing ways to capture phosphates from runoff to prevent it from entering the general water supply. Case Western Reserve’s access to world-class medical facilities, major manufacturers and natural resources like Lake Erie make it a prime location to conduct advanced separations research across the entire spectrum of industrial and environmental applications.