ABSTRACT
Membranes are the new promise on the horizon as far is separation processes are concerned. While several new membranes are being developed each day in different laboratories worldwide, the major challenge remains the scale-up of these membranes into commercially viable modular configurations such as spiral wound, hollow fiber, tubular and plate and frame. While hydrostatic pressure driven membrane processes such as reverse osmosis, nanofiltration and ultrafiltration having taken a lead in scale-up, bulk production of gas separation, pervaporation and forward osmosis membranes is not happening due to lack of proper infrastructure for producing composite membranes with a dense skin layer, in spite of their increasing application in several processes. Membrane manufacturing industries are globally scarce entities and rarer in India. The transformation of membrane concepts from lab to land can be achieved by industries, provided the manufacturing process is economically viable. Permionics Membrane Pvt. Ltd. (PMPL) is the only private company among the three major membrane manufacturers in India, including CSMCRI- Bhavnagar and BARC, Trombay. PMPL has taken a lead in commissioning membrane plants ranging from small to very large capacities. This study covers some of the interesting membrane applications commercialized, including gelatin concentration in biotechnology, food and dairy processing, health and energy, apart from the more common applications of drinking water purification and industrial effluent treatment.
