ABSTRACT
Membrane separation processes can be used for a wide range of applications and can often offer significant advantages over conventional separation such as distillation and adsorption since the separation is based on a physical mechanism. At the heart of chemical and process engineering is the design and operation of processes that change the thermodynamic state, composition, morphology, or other characteristic of materials. Today, pressure-driven membrane processes are operated in three different modes: dead-end, cross-flow, and direct-flow. Even though membrane processes are a relatively new type of separation technology, unknown to the general public, several membrane processes such as reverse osmosis (RO), gas separation (GS), ultrafiltration (UF), and microfiltration (MF) are already applied extensively on an industrial scale. Membranes can be classified regarding their origin, morphology, structure, and preparation method. With regard to synthetic membranes, they can in terms of membrane material be classified into polymeric and or inorganic membranes.
