Membrane Separation Processes

A special issue of Processes (ISSN 2227-9717). This special issue belongs to the section "Materials Processes".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 June 2016) | Viewed by 45976

Special Issue Editors

Laboratory of Inorganic Membrane Reactors for Pure Hydrogen Production, Institute of Membrane Technology (ITM) of the Italian National Research Council (CNR), Cubo 17/C, 87036 Rende CS, Italy
Interests: membrane; membrane reactors; hydrogen production; CO2 capture and use
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Université Lyon 1 Laboratoire d’Automatique et de Génie des Procédés (LAGEP) Bat 308 G, CPE 43 Bd du 11 Novembre 1918, 69 622 Villeurbanne, CEDEX, France
Interests: membrane processes in biotechnology and pharmaceutics (membrane emulsification, membrane mixing, membrane chromatography, etc.); membrane processes for water treatment (removal of iron, fluoride, boron, etc.), especially using integrated membrane systems and processes

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The success of the various membrane processes (ultrafiltration, microfiltration, reverse osmosis, etc.) makes them a central technique in solving separation problems for fluid systems.  Especially in the last few decades, membrane separation processes have evolved from a kind of curiosity in the laboratories, where the attention was given to only very simple applications, to utilization in many important industrial operations with a very high impact from both the commercial and the technical ones. This was mainly due to the strong effort by physicists, chemists, and chemical engineers, who were able to develop better membranes and modules and also new applications.

The strong development of membrane techniques also makes it possible to integrate various operations with the purpose to improve performance in terms of product quality, plant compactness, environmental impact, and energy use. Hybrid or integrated membrane processes can be considered step of this evolution. In some processes, adsorption or reaction may be included in the membrane itself, like in membrane reactors, ion-exchange membranes, adsorptive membranes, and others. Other hybrid or integrated membrane processes combine several membrane separation steps, one step being dependent on the former one, in a multistage configuration. Finally, membrane filtration may be associated with other unit operations like adsorption on activated carbon or ion-exchange resins.

 

This Special Issue intends to resume many of these aspects.

Guide:

1)      Fundamental and theory of membrane permeation and membrane processes.

2)      Pilot-scale applications and long-term process data analysis.

3)      Full-scale implementation for production purposes.

4)      Integrated membrane processes and systems.

Angelo Basile
Catherine Charcosset
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • Membrane processes
  • Membrane systems
  • Integrated membrane processes

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

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1974 KiB  
Article
Pure Hydrogen Production in Membrane Reactor with Mixed Reforming Reaction by Utilizing Waste Gas: A Case Study
by Seyyed Mohammad Jokar, Mohammad Reza Rahimpour, Alireza Shariati, Adolfo Iulianelli, Giuseppe Bagnato, Antonio Vita, Francesco Dalena and Angelo Basile
Processes 2016, 4(3), 33; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr4030033 - 20 Sep 2016
Cited by 16 | Viewed by 7360
Abstract
A rise in CO2 and other greenhouse gases’ concentration from gas refinery flares and furnaces in the atmosphere causes environmental problems. In this work, a new process was designed to use waste gas (flue gas and flare gas) of a domestic gas [...] Read more.
A rise in CO2 and other greenhouse gases’ concentration from gas refinery flares and furnaces in the atmosphere causes environmental problems. In this work, a new process was designed to use waste gas (flue gas and flare gas) of a domestic gas refinery to produce pure hydrogen in a membrane reactor. In particular, the process foresees that the energy and CO2 content of flue gas can provide the heat of the mixed reforming reaction to convert flare gas into hydrogen. Furthermore, the characteristics of the feed stream were obtained via simulation. Then, an experimental setup was built up to investigate the performance of a membrane reactor allocating an unsupported dense Pd-Ag membrane at the mentioned conditions. In this regard, a Ni/CeO2 catalyst was loaded in the membrane reformer for mixed reforming reaction, operating at 450 °C, in a pressure range between 100 and 350 kPa and a gas hourly space velocity of around 1000 h−1. The experimental results in terms of methane conversion, hydrogen recovery and yield, as well as products’ compositions are reported. The best results of this work were observed at 350 kPa, where the MR was able to achieve about 64%, 52% and 50% for methane conversion, hydrogen yield and recovery, respectively. Furthermore, with the assistance of the experimental tests, the proposed process was simulated in the scaling up to calculate the needed surface area for MR in the domestic gas refinery. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Membrane Separation Processes)
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1909 KiB  
Article
Comparison of Membrane Chromatography and Monolith Chromatography for Lactoferrin and Bovine Serum Albumin Separation
by Chalore Teepakorn, Koffi Fiaty and Catherine Charcosset
Processes 2016, 4(3), 31; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr4030031 - 06 Sep 2016
Cited by 12 | Viewed by 8373
Abstract
These last few decades, membranes and monoliths have been increasingly used as stationary phases for chromatography. Their fast mass transfer is mainly based on convection, which leads to reduced diffusion, which is usually observed in resins. Nevertheless, poor flow distribution, which causes inefficient [...] Read more.
These last few decades, membranes and monoliths have been increasingly used as stationary phases for chromatography. Their fast mass transfer is mainly based on convection, which leads to reduced diffusion, which is usually observed in resins. Nevertheless, poor flow distribution, which causes inefficient binding, remains a major challenge for the development of both membrane and monolith devices. Moreover, the comparison of membranes and monoliths for biomolecule separation has been very poorly investigated. In this paper, the separation of two proteins, bovine serum albumin (BSA) and lactoferrin (LF), with similar sizes, but different isoelectric points, was investigated at a pH of 6.0 with a BSA-LF concentration ratio of 2/1 (2.00 mg·mL−1 BSA and 1.00 mg·mL−1 LF solution) using strong cation exchange membranes and monoliths packed in the same housing, as well as commercialized devices. The feeding flow rate was operated at 12.0 bed volume (BV)/min for all devices. Afterward, bound LF was eluted using a phosphate-buffered saline solution with 2.00 M NaCl. Using membranes in a CIM housing from BIA Separations (Slovenia) with porous frits before and after the membrane bed, higher binding capacities, sharper breakthrough curves, as well as sharper and more symmetric elution peaks were obtained. The monolith and commercialized membrane devices showed lower LF binding capacity and broadened and non-symmetric elution peaks. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Membrane Separation Processes)
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960 KiB  
Article
Functional Properties of Punica granatum L. Juice Clarified by Hollow Fiber Membranes
by Francesco Galiano, Alberto Figoli, Carmela Conidi, Francesco Menichini, Marco Bonesi, Monica R. Loizzo, Alfredo Cassano and Rosa Tundis
Processes 2016, 4(3), 21; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr4030021 - 15 Jul 2016
Cited by 21 | Viewed by 6233
Abstract
There is currently much interest in pomegranate juice because of the high content of phenolic compounds. Moreover, the interest in the separation of bioactive compounds from natural sources has remarkably grown. In this work, for the first time, the Punica granatum L. (pomegranate) [...] Read more.
There is currently much interest in pomegranate juice because of the high content of phenolic compounds. Moreover, the interest in the separation of bioactive compounds from natural sources has remarkably grown. In this work, for the first time, the Punica granatum L. (pomegranate) juice—clarified by using polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) and polysulfone (PSU) hollow fiber (HF) membranes prepared in the laboratory—was screened for its antioxidant properties by using different in vitro assays, namely 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), 2,2'-azino-bis-(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonic acid) (ABTS), Ferric Reducing Antioxidant Power (FRAP), and β-carotene bleaching tests, and for its potential inhibitory activity of the carbohydrate-hydrolysing enzymes, α-amylase and α-glucosidase. The effects of clarification on quality characteristics of the juice were also investigated in terms of total phenols, flavonoids, anthocyanins, and ascorbic acid. Experimental results indicated that PVDF membranes presented a lower retention towards healthy phytochemicals in comparison to PSU membranes. Accordingly, the juice clarified with PVDF membranes showed the best antioxidant activity. Moreover, the treatment with PVDF membranes produced a clarified juice with 2.9-times fold higher α-amylase inhibitory activity in comparison to PSU (IC50 value of 75.86 vs. 221.31 μg/mL, respectively). The same trend was observed using an α-glucosidase inhibition test. These results highlight the great potential of the clarified juice as a source of functional constituents. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Membrane Separation Processes)
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1950 KiB  
Article
Effects of Catalysts and Membranes on the Performance of Membrane Reactors in Steam Reforming of Ethanol at Moderate Temperature
by Manabu Miyamoto, Yuki Yoshikawa, Yasunori Oumi, Shin-ichi Yamaura and Shigeyuki Uemiya
Processes 2016, 4(2), 18; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr4020018 - 03 Jun 2016
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 5666
Abstract
Steam reforming of ethanol in the membrane reactor using the Pd77Ag23 membrane was evaluated in Ni/CeO2 and Co/CeO2 at atmospheric pressure. At 673 K, the H2 yield in the Pd77Ag23 membrane reactor over Co/CeO [...] Read more.
Steam reforming of ethanol in the membrane reactor using the Pd77Ag23 membrane was evaluated in Ni/CeO2 and Co/CeO2 at atmospheric pressure. At 673 K, the H2 yield in the Pd77Ag23 membrane reactor over Co/CeO2 was found to be higher than that over Ni/CeO2, although the H2 yield over Ni/CeO2 exceeded that over Co/CeO2 at 773 K. This difference was owing to their reaction mechanism. At 773 K, the effect of H2 removal could be understood as the equilibrium shift. In contrast, the H2 removal kinetically inhibited the reverse methane steam reforming at low temperature. Thus, the low methane-forming reaction rate of Co/CeO2 was favorable at 673 K. The addition of a trace amount of Ru increased the H2 yield effectively in the membrane reactor, indicating that a reverse H2 spill over mechanism of Ru would enhance the kinetical effect of H2 separation. Finally, the effect of membrane performance on the reactor performance by using amorphous alloy membranes with different compositions was evaluated. The H2 yield was set in the order of H2 permeation flux regardless of the membrane composition. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Membrane Separation Processes)
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Review

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42832 KiB  
Review
Origins and Evolution of Inorganic-Based and MOF-Based Mixed-Matrix Membranes for Gas Separations
by Edson V. Perez, Chamaal Karunaweera, Inga H. Musselman, Kenneth J. Balkus and John P. Ferraris
Processes 2016, 4(3), 32; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr4030032 - 12 Sep 2016
Cited by 40 | Viewed by 17215
Abstract
Gas separation for industrial, energy, and environmental applications requires low energy consumption and small footprint technology to minimize operating and capital costs for the processing of large volumes of gases. Among the separation methods currently being used, like distillation, amine scrubbing, and pressure [...] Read more.
Gas separation for industrial, energy, and environmental applications requires low energy consumption and small footprint technology to minimize operating and capital costs for the processing of large volumes of gases. Among the separation methods currently being used, like distillation, amine scrubbing, and pressure and temperature swing adsorption, membrane-based gas separation has the potential to meet these demands. The key component, the membrane, must then be engineered to allow for high gas flux, high selectivity, and chemical and mechanical stability at the operating conditions of feed composition, pressure, and temperature. Among the new type of membranes studied that show promising results are the inorganic-based and the metal-organic framework-based mixed-matrix membranes (MOF-MMMs). A MOF is a unique material that offers the possibility of tuning the porosity of a membrane by introducing diffusional channels and forming a compatible interface with the polymer. This review details the origins of these membranes and their evolution since the first inorganic/polymer and MOF/polymer MMMs were reported in the open literature. The most significant advancements made in terms of materials, properties, and testing conditions are described in a chronological fashion. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Membrane Separation Processes)
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