Past, Present and Future of Membrane Technology in Spain (original) (raw)

Overview of Membrane Science and Technology in Portugal

Membranes, 2022

Membrane research in Portugal is aligned with global concerns and expectations for sustainable social development, thus progressively focusing on the use of natural resources and renewable energy. This review begins by addressing the pioneer work on membrane science and technology in Portugal by the research groups of Instituto Superior Técnico—Universidade de Lisboa (IST), NOVA School of Science and Technology—Universidade Nova de Lisboa (FCT NOVA) and Faculdade de Engenharia—Universidade do Porto (FEUP) aiming to provide an historical perspective on the topic. Then, an overview of the trends and challenges in membrane processes and materials, mostly in the last five years, involving Portuguese researchers, is presented as a contribution to a more sustainable water–energy–material–food nexus.

An Introduction to Membrane Science and Technology

INTRODUCTION SUMMARY 1.1. General considerations 1.2. Historical and key developments of membranes and membrane processes 1.3. Advantages and limitations of membrane processes 1.4. Cost considerations and environmental impact 1.5. The membrane based industry 1.6. The membrane market and its future development 1.7. The future of membrane science and technology 1.8. References

Membrane Engineering for Today and for Tomorrow

Journal of Membrane Science and Research, 2020

© 2020 MPRL. All rights reserved. When in the early 80’s the European Membrane Society was created, the term Membrane Engineering was not existing. A membrane industry was just appearing. The overall membrane market was less than US$1 billion per year. However, very interesting the fact that all around the world and particularly in Japan, China, USA and Europe, membrane science and research started to attract a very significant attention. The journal Membrane Science was founded in 1976 and it started a very successful story; MAKU (membrane in Japanese) was the scientific journal of Japan Membrane Society created at the end of 70’s. The European Membrane Society was created in 1981 and, few years later, also the North America Membrane Society started its activities following the first very successful conference on membranes in Stresa (ITALY) organized by the European Membrane Society and the Membrane Society of Japan. Also, in China the attention to membrane science and research was...

Membrane Science and Membrane Engineering in the past years and tomorrow

membrane, 2016

Membrane Science and Membrane Engineering today represent one of the most visible research area together with innovative operations, in a large variety of industrial, medical and biotechnological sectors. The story of Membrane Engineering is relatively recent. The first never organized international scientific meeting on Membranes with emphasis on industrial application and potentialities and not just on biological membranes, was organized at Villa Cimbrone in Ravello (Italy) in 1966 as a NATO Advanced Study Institute (ASI) on Membrane Transport Phenomena by Prof. Harry Gregor (from NY) and Prof. Alfonso M. Liquori (from Naples). At that time Reverse Osmosis (RO) membranes, invented by Sidney Loeb and Srinivasa Sourirajan, were just starting their successful applications, and their transport properties and potentialities in desalination was, in fact, one of the major topic discussed at the 1966 NATO ASI. All the most respected Scientists active on transport phenomena in artificial and biological membranes were present, probably for the first time, with Professors of Chemical Engineering, with Researchers in molecular separations, with Experts in polymer chemistry, etc., in an exciting multidisciplinary meeting having already all the characteristic of the future Membrane Science and Membrane Engineering.

Membrane Science and Membrane Engineering: a Successful Story

General Chemistry

Membrane engineering is one of the disciplines most involved in the technological innovations necessary to face the problems characterizing the world today and in future such as water shortage, raw material depletion, and energy consumption. Membrane operations contribute to solving these problems, and the potentialities of membrane operations have been widely recognized in the last few years. In this work, an overview of membrane applications and their perspectives in the field of membrane materials, membrane modelling and water treatment will be analyzed. The scope of this study is to show how membranes, membrane operations and their integration could contribute to the redesign of membrane engineering in the logic of the process intensif ication strategy.

Field Grand Challenge for Membrane Science and Technology

Frontiers in Membrane Science and Technology, 2022

A membrane can be defined broadly as a physical barrier, which allows the selective passage of species from one side to the other under a driving force, or which controls the rate of permeation. Across the spectrum of separations or membrane processes, the species may be organic or aqueous liquids, solutes, vapors, gases, ions or electrons. An example of controlled transport of species is drug delivery. One of the advantages of a membrane process is the avoidance of a phase change, which may typically occur for conventional separation processes. Another advantage is the relatively small footprint of a membrane system, and its scalability and flexibility of onsite “at source” operation, for example, a small water treatment plant (Hoek and Tarabara, 2013; Baker, 2004). The earliest accounts of membrane transport extend back over 200 years, and involved studies on biological as well as some synthetic membranes. Biological membranes are ubiquitous across the plant and animal kingdom, serving a multitude of functions. They have had eons to evolve intricate channels and pore structures and transport mechanisms with exquisite control over the permeation and selective passage of bioactive molecules, ions, water, and gases. In modern membrane science and technology, they serve as inspiration for the design of new membranes, through structural architecture or transport mechanisms. Much earlier work on synthetic membranes was on morphologies that could be thought of as having symmetric or dense structures, which had substantial resistance to transport, resulting in a low transmembrane flux of permeating species. While dense membranes enable the intrinsic properties to be studied in detail, draw useful structure-property relationships, and develop theoretic understanding of transport, they are impractical for industrial separation because of low product permeation. The pivotal point in membrane science occurred in 1961, which was the start of the transformation from academic curiosity to industrial application. This was the development of the first practical membrane with sufficiently high water permeation for desalination of seawater, a process termed “reverse osmosis” (RO). It was an integrally-skinned asymmetric membrane with a thin selective layer made from cellulose acetate, developed by Loeb and Sourirajan, while at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Shortly after this, Sourirajan moved to the National Research Council (NRC), Canada, at the main Ottawa campus, and established a world-renowned membrane program that was to last several decades (Matsuura, 2020; Lau and Feng, 2021). My long career and interest in membrane research began in January 1981 and spans about 4 decades. Having completed my Master’s degree in natural products chemistry at Carleton University, Canada in 1980, circumstances led me to return to Canada from the United Kingdom in January 1981, and I started a research contract on membrane materials at NRC. During my yearly NRC contracts, I completed my PhD at Carleton University while working at NRC, eventually becoming a Research Officer in 1987, at what was at that time, one of the major hubs Edited and reviewed by: Jong Hak Kim, Yonsei University, South Korea

Prospects of Membrane Science Development

Membranes and Membrane Technologies, 2019

Membranes are widely used in modern technology. The demand for different types of membranes and membrane processes is increasing every year. This review summarizes the current state of the art and prospects of membrane science developments including membrane materials for gas separation, pervaporation, and pressure-driven membrane processes; ion-exchange, hybrid, and track-etched membranes; membranes for electrochemical sensors; and mathematical modeling of membrane separation processes and ion and water transport in membrane systems. Studies aimed at improving the selectivity and performance of membranes and their stability are surveyed. New approaches to the synthesis and modification of membranes as well as their advanced applications are discussed.

New avenues in membrane science and technology

Sadhana-academy Proceedings in Engineering Sciences, 1993

Recent advances and avenues for further research and development in three specific fields of membrane science and technology are reviewed. The potential of membrane processes for gas separation has been considerably improved by the development of new materials combining high permeability and selectivity. While working correlations between polymer structure and permeation characteristics have been evolved, there is need to further