NEW AVENUES IN MEMBRANE SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

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 develop our basic understanding of this relationship. The second field reviewed is that of improving the separation characteristics of porous membrane filtration (ultra-/microfiltration). Recent promising approaches include the fabrication of membranes with uniform porosities, new module configurations and the manipulation of feed chemistries. The third area highlighted is that of hybrid membrane processes. These are considered both as integrated processes in which the membrane process operates in conjunction with another unit operation or as a coupled transport process in which the basic functioning of the membrane is intimately coupled with another physical or chemical process in single unit operation. The scope for basic research in these fields is indicated.