Novel semi-permeable gas membrane

Opportunity for

• Commercialisers, partners or investors, interested in developing or improving current solutions for air, water, fluid and gas monitoring or diagnostic solutions.
• This gas permeable, liquid impermeable membrane could be used in animal, environmental, food or mining applications with gas sensors to detect specific gas species such as ammonia, carbon dioxide, nitrous species, etc.

Opportunity description

Industry challenge: Current commercially available gas permeable, liquid impermeable membranes struggle, as they distort gas sensor responses or induce a long response and thereby result in longer diagnostic times.

A membrane was developed as a result of the National Livestock Methane Programs investment into partnering with Meat & Livestock Australia (MLA) and Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) to develop a nano composite gas membrane to measure methane production in the rumen of cattle.

Current opportunity: This gas permeable, liquid impermeable membrane allows gases through it, but not liquids. This membrane also stops the colonisation of most microorganisms on the membranes surface., e.g., microorganisms in the digestive tract.

Research has proven this membrane within animals (including the cattle rumen) and environmental conditions to detect gases.

Key applications are selective gas capture, gas sensing, and gas separation.

MLA and RMIT are looking to license, find investors or research partners to utilise the membrane. MLA and RMIT share the intellectual property and RMIT is the commercialising partner for the technology.

Potential other applications

These membranes may be used in any application where the response time and sensitivity of gas sensors needs improvement such as:

• Environmental monitoring: trace gas concentration measurement in rural and urban environments (street level monitoring of concentration);pollutant monitoring, noxious gas detection and concentration measurement; greenhouse monitoring, controlled atmosphere environment monitoring;
• Animal and human health detection
• Waste and wastewater management: liquid gas detection measurement of gas species such as methane and hydrogen in waste lagoons, meat processing waste streams, water treatment plants (sewage lagoon processing), landfill sites, biogas digesters; measurement of gas species conversion in dark fermentation systems
• Mining: Determination of methane and other gaseous emissions from coal seam and other mining activities; fugitive emissions into the environment
• Building design: Measurement of gas transference rates within buildings (especially within regulated confined spaces)
• Aquatic systems and ecosystems services: Partition of gas species between aquatic and atmospheric environments
• Food processing and packaging: In situ measurement of gas species within food processing and manufacturing plants anti-microbial package.
• Wearable electronics and sensors