Ceramic Membranes and Applications

Dear Colleagues,

History reminds us of the developments made, more than 50 years ago, when ceramic membranes were used to successfully separate and increase the ²³⁵Uranium concentration needed to fuel light water reactors. More recent development related to the rapid irrevesible depletion of natural resources and the environmental damage caused by emissions, which are known to be directly linked to high consumption of fossil fuels, has once again brought ceramic membranes to the forefront. Ceramic membranes have proved to have enduring attributes that can tackle the aforementioned problems in an efficient and eco-friendly manner, both technically and economicaly. As an asymetrical multi-porosity structure, it usually comes in multichanelled elements, composed of materials ranging from alpha alumina to zirconia, and, in some cases, composed of mixed oxides that are often grouped together in metallic housings. Ceramic membranes are durable, and these elements can operate at high temperatures and at extreme alkalinity or acidity and high transmembrane pressures, thus making them essential for many applications where other inorganic membranes and polymers cannot be utilized. With several commercially-available pore sizes, ceramic membranes can be tailored to suit specific filtration needs, ranging from microfiltration to ultrafiltration and nanofiltration (from 5 mm down to 1000 Daltons). As a result, ceramic membranes are increasingly being used in a diverse range of industries, such as the pharmaceutical industry and biotechnology, food, dairy, and beverages, as well as the chemical, petrochemical, microelectronics, metal finishing, and power generation industries. As each industry has specific needs and opportunities, the multi-dimensional attributes of ceramic membranes become more evident in industrial gas separations where, not only molecular weight differences can be exploited (as was the case with ²³⁵Uranium isotope separation), but also the kinetic diameter differences (that can also be advantageously used in zeolitic and nanoporous systems to effect gas separation). In recent years, research on ceramic membranes has focused on developing syatems incoprating porous and dense mediums for process intensification in reactor-separtors, fuel cells and in the extraction of very-low-content components from large flow systems at near ambient operating conditions.

Prof. Dr. Edward Gobina
Guest Editor

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• ceramic membranes
• metal oxides
• asymmetric
• multi-porosity
• gas separations
• microfiltration
• ultrafiltration
• nanofiltration
• resource conservation and energy reduction