Reverse osmosis molecular differentiation of organic liquids using carbon molecular sieve membranes

Carbon sieving to separate the similar Separating organic molecules, particularly those with almost equal sizes and similar physical properties, can be challenging and may require energy-intensive techniques such as freeze fractionation. Taking inspiration from reverse osmosis of aqueous fluids, Koh et al. describe the synthesis, characterization, and mass transport performance of carbon molecular sieve membranes for the separation of liquid-phase organic molecules at room temperature. This technique is capable of separating very similar isomers, such as ortho - and para -xylene, on an industrial scale. Science , this issue p. 804