Directory profile for Dr. Steven T. Weinman

Dr. Weinman’s group focuses on functionalizing and synthesizing membranes to improve current water treatment membrane technologies.

Membranes are semi-permeable barriers that separate substances when a driving force is applied across the membrane. The Weinman group works to provide solutions to current environmental and wastewater challenges by developing new membrane technologies.

The Weinman Group focuses on synthesizing and studying the fundamental properties of thin-film composite membranes for nanofiltration and reverse osmosis applications. This will allow us to better understand what factor(s) influence membrane properties and utilize this understanding to enable new separations.
Progressive decline in water permeability due to fouling is one of the largest costs associated with membrane processes in water treatment. My research focuses on surface modifying membranes to reduce various types of fouling (oil, biological, scaling, etc.).

Another project area involves creating membrane adsorbers and solvents to capture compounds of interest. There is a need to selectively remove persistent pollutants and high value products from water and wastewater streams.

Lastly, the Weinman Group is exploring new solvents for brine remediation where membranes cannot be used.