top of page

​CleanCELL: Bio-based membrane structures with tunable properties for water-borne impurities removal


CleanCELL aims at developing sustainable cellulose-based (bio)active membrane structures and functional purification systems that can selectively capture, measure and even decompose water-borne contaminants from different matrices. These multimaterial architectures can be tailored to address controlled porosity, flux, rejection rates and mechanical performance required for specific applications, by different surface treatments and functionalization steps. The main goals are:

  • Fine-tune the structure of cellulosic membranes towards controlled porosity, flux, and rejection rates while simultaneously assuring required mechanical performance

  • Develop the membranes with required properties to enablelarge-scale production and roll-to-roll processing




Main results

We have demonstrated that we can control the variation of membranes pore sizes (and as a result membrane permeation) and improve the wet strength. Briefly:

  • Membranes porosity and pore size can be controlled

  • Membranes can operate at pressures up to 6 bar

  • Proposed fabrication protocol enables large-scale production



Research Project Managers

Luana Dessbesell, Aalto

Bruno Mattos, Aalto

Alexey Khakalo, VTT


Project status

Funded by FinnCERES from January 2022 onwards.



bottom of page