{"schema_version":1,"experiment_id":"eoa_inverse_innovation_exp09_archetype_breadth150_20260804","cell_id":"graceful_degradation__chemistry_materials","arm":"BREADTH_PROBE_ONE_SHOT","candidate_id":"graceful_degradation__chemistry_materials__P1","proposal_index":1,"version":0,"title":"Reversibly Gated Gas-Separation Membrane That Sacrifices Flux to Preserve Product Purity During Contaminant Excursions","problem":"A high-flux polymer or mixed-matrix membrane used to purify hydrogen-rich gas can absorb an unexpected pulse of condensable hydrocarbons. The sorbate increases chain mobility or opens nonselective transport paths, so a membrane operated for maximum throughput may abruptly lose selectivity, contaminate the product stream, and incur persistent structural damage.","actors":["Membrane-materials researchers","Membrane-module operator","Process-safety owner","Downstream user requiring gas above a specified purity floor"],"observable_state":"Feed-side contaminant activity rises above a characterized threshold while permeate composition, membrane permeance, pressure differential, and dimensional or spectroscopic indicators show the onset of plasticization. Full-flux operation is becoming incompatible with the stated product-purity and membrane-integrity floors, although a smaller set of robust selective transport paths remains usable.","consequence":"If all transport pathways remain fully available, contaminant-swollen high-flux domains can dominate permeation, driving product purity below its declared floor and potentially leaving irreversible morphology changes. Shutting down the entire module avoids off-spec delivery but also eliminates otherwise feasible reduced-rate purification.","affected_objective":"Maintain explicitly signaled production of on-spec purified gas at a reduced flow rate while preventing irreversible membrane damage and retaining a path back to full-flux operation.","intervention":"Construct a bimodal selective layer containing a robust, lower-permeance continuous separation network and reversibly gated auxiliary high-flux domains. Under normal feed conditions both contribute to throughput. When condensable-sorbate activity crosses a validated trigger, responsive segments around the auxiliary domains contract, vitrify, or otherwise close those paths before bulk plasticization compromises selectivity. The module then enters a declared low-flux mode using only the robust network. It must divert permeate rather than claim service if purity falls below the quality floor. After the contaminant desorbs and both composition and material-state measurements cross a separate recovery threshold, auxiliary paths are reopened in a staged restoration.","structural_mapping":[{"archetype_element":"Multi-function or multi-quality system","domain_realization":"The membrane jointly provides separation selectivity, product throughput, low pressure cost, and recoverable structural integrity."},{"archetype_element":"Detectable stress condition","domain_realization":"Feed contaminant activity and precursor changes in permeance, selectivity, swelling, or spectroscopy indicate approach to plasticization."},{"archetype_element":"Explicit priority policy","domain_realization":"Product-purity and material-integrity floors outrank maximum permeate flux."},{"archetype_element":"Separable lower-priority capability","domain_realization":"Auxiliary high-flux transport domains can be closed while the continuous robust selective network remains connected."},{"archetype_element":"Controlled partial-service mode","domain_realization":"The module continues separating gas through the robust network at reduced flow and declares low-flux operation."},{"archetype_element":"Recovery path","domain_realization":"Contaminant desorption plus a lower recovery threshold permits staged reopening of auxiliary transport domains."},{"archetype_element":"Named invariants","domain_realization":"Delivered gas remains above the declared purity floor, permeate is diverted when it does not, the selective layer remains physically intact, and switching remains reversible within a predefined cycle criterion."}],"mechanism_mapping":[{"mechanism_slug":"feature_disablement","role":"Reversible gating disables the membrane's auxiliary high-flux domains first, deliberately sacrificing throughput while leaving the robust selective network active.","counterfactual_removal":"Without selective path disablement, the contaminant continues to access the same high-flux domains and degradation is uncontrolled rather than prioritized."},{"mechanism_slug":"degraded_mode_operation","role":"The membrane-module pair operates as an explicit reduced-throughput separation service with purity monitoring, status signaling, and a minimum useful flow floor.","counterfactual_removal":"Without a defined degraded mode, the choices collapse to continued off-spec operation or complete shutdown."},{"mechanism_slug":"fallback_operation","role":"The continuous robust network is the lower-capability transport path used during the excursion and is designed to remain connected when auxiliary domains close.","counterfactual_removal":"Without the fallback network, closing vulnerable paths would stop all useful permeation."}],"causal_chain":["A condensable contaminant begins sorbing into the selective layer.","Measured contaminant activity or a validated material-state proxy crosses the degradation threshold.","Responsive gates close auxiliary high-flux domains before nonselective transport becomes dominant.","The contaminant is denied the transport paths most responsible for the high-throughput but plasticization-sensitive state.","Gas continues through the robust selective network, reducing flux while preserving the specified purity and integrity floors.","The module declares degraded mode, and an independent product analyzer diverts any off-spec permeate.","After contaminant activity and material-state indicators remain below the recovery threshold, auxiliary domains reopen in stages.","Full-flux service resumes only if purity, flux, and reversibility checks pass."],"baseline":"A conventional membrane with one uniformly accessible transport morphology is operated at its normal pressure and throughput target until an external analyzer detects off-spec permeate; the operator then diverts product or stops the module. It has no material-level priority order between throughput-producing pathways and purity-preserving pathways.","nearest_rivals":["A uniformly plasticization-resistant membrane that attempts to preserve full service without changing transport mode","An upstream adsorbent guard bed that removes condensable contaminants before they reach the membrane","A trip-and-shutdown policy that stops permeation when product purity approaches its floor","A redundant membrane train or bypass that shifts separation to alternate capacity","Uniform throttling of feed pressure or flow without selectively disabling vulnerable transport domains"],"remaining_contrastive_claim":"The candidate is distinguished by an internal, reversible priority order among transport pathways: under a contaminant excursion it intentionally removes auxiliary flux-producing paths yet preserves separation through a lower-capacity network in the same selective layer. This differs from uniformly strengthening the membrane, removing the contaminant upstream, transferring service to another unit, merely reducing incoming load, or stopping safely.","authority_safety":{"decision_authority":"A membrane research lead may authorize coupon-scale testing; the process-safety owner and downstream purity owner jointly control any later module operation and define the purity, pressure, exposure, and diversion limits.","authorized_first_step":"Fabricate a small set of non-production membrane coupons and expose them in an instrumented, ventilated laboratory permeation cell to one predefined clean-feed/contaminant/clean-feed sequence.","excluded_actions":["Connection to a production gas stream","Delivery of test permeate to a user or occupied space","Testing above the cell's certified pressure, temperature, or chemical-compatibility envelope","Use of toxic or pyrophoric feeds in the first test","Relying on the membrane response as the sole product-purity safeguard","Automatic restoration without independent composition measurement"],"halt_rollback":"Stop feed, isolate and depressurize the cell, switch to the approved purge, and retain the coupon for analysis if permeate purity crosses its floor, pressure differential exceeds the apparatus limit, physical damage appears, or gating fails to reverse. The operational rollback is replacement with an ungated control coupon under clean feed; no exposed coupon advances to service."},"negative_tests":{"strongest_counterevidence":"During contaminant exposure, the gated membrane either loses selectivity before auxiliary-path closure, loses essentially all useful flux, or fails to recover its initial clean-feed state after desorption; any of these observations would contradict the intended controlled partial-operation mechanism.","problem_falsifier":"Under the bounded exposure range, the ungated baseline maintains the declared purity and integrity floors without shutdown or persistent morphology change, showing that the proposed stress state is not present for the selected material-feed pair.","intervention_falsifier":"A gated coupon shows no earlier or more selective closure of auxiliary transport paths than a composition-matched ungated control, or its apparent purity preservation is fully explained by nonspecific loss of membrane area, leakage changes, irreversible densification, or uniform feed throttling.","risks":["The responsive chemistry may react too slowly relative to contaminant uptake.","Gate closure may also interrupt the robust network, producing total shutdown.","The robust network may remain connected but deliver gas below the minimum useful flow floor.","Repeated switching may cause fatigue, delamination, pinholes, or irreversible aging.","Hysteresis may delay recovery or normalize low-flux operation.","A bulk composition analyzer may detect failure only after off-spec gas has formed.","Different contaminants may trigger at different activities or evade the gate entirely.","Swelling could change mechanical stress and module sealing independently of transport selectivity.","A declared purity floor could omit another safety-critical impurity or material-integrity constraint."]},"next_evidence_step":"Run one blinded coupon-scale comparison among the bimodal gated material, a composition-matched ungated material, and the robust-network-only control. Apply a single predefined clean-feed/step-contaminant/clean-feed sequence while continuously recording feed and permeate composition, flux, pressure differential, and one independent swelling or morphology proxy. The test supports further investigation only if the gated coupon enters a visibly lower-flux state before crossing the purity floor, retains flux above the predefined useful minimum, and returns within predefined measurement tolerance of its initial clean-feed state; otherwise halt this design path and analyze the failure mode.","prior_art_status":"UNSEARCHED","diversity_from_prior_proposals":"No other experiment candidates or proposals were inspected. This candidate is derived only from the supplied archetype and domain card and realizes graceful degradation as reversible pathway-selective transport reduction inside a functional material.","revision_record":{"parent_version":null,"progress_targets_addressed":[],"conceptual_changes":[],"operational_changes":[],"evidence_changes":[],"claim_changes":[]}}