C&EN talks with Shreya Dave, membrane separations entrepreneur

Abstract

Mechanical engineer Shreya Dave never planned to start a company. As a graduate student in materials scientist Jeffrey Grossman’s lab at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dave set out to develop a separation membrane for use in water desalination, with the ultimate goal of creating freshwater from the sea. She succeeded in creating a graphene-oxide-based membrane that could filter molecules as small as NaCl. But it turned out that the cost savings gleaned from the membrane’s increased permeability and chlorine tolerance wouldn’t offset the higher cost of its manufacture. Still, she was convinced that membrane separation could slash energy consumption across the globe—most chemical separations require huge amounts of heat—so Dave and fellow Ph.D. student Brent Keller cofounded a company in 2016 called Via Separations to apply the technology to industries other than water. Alla Katsnelson spoke to Dave about the process of bringing academic research into the market—and bringing market