State-of-the-Art Membrane Science and Technology in North America (2023,2024)

Dear Colleagues,  

Membrane science and technology is a broad and highly interdisciplinary field, where materials science and engineering, chemistry, chemical engineering, process engineering, separation technologies, environmental science, sustainability, and molecular simulation converge to produce membranes that have a wide range of applications. North America is the leading region for this field across the world in terms of market shares, scholarly outcomes, globally active researchers and entrepreneurs, and membrane manufacturing and water treatment companies and startups. For years, the synergy of high-impact research and development by accomplished and inspiring researchers from academia and industry, exceptional infrastructure and expertise in membrane fabrication and characterization and nanoscale materials and strong membrane associations, such as the North American Membrane Society (https://membranes.org) and American Membrane Technology Association (https://www.amtaorg.com), have served as a platform on which the transition of research results to the market has been facilitated. However, the development of energy and cost-efficient membrane materials and processes, with sustainable high product recovery and quality, has always been a challenging endeavor and kept the membrane community creative and vibrant. Despite many successful and continuing efforts to develop high-performance and innovative membranes and membrane-based hybrid processes, there is still a great deal of work to do. 

This Special Issue is devoted to providing an overview of the recent advancements in membrane science and technology in North America. Original research works, review articles, and state-of-the-art communications are welcome. Research topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

- Novel membrane materials

• Composite and nanocomposite membranes;
• Active/reactive membranes;
• Stimuli-responsive membranes ;
• Protein-based membranes;
• Electrospun nanofibrous membranes;
• Affinity membranes  ;
• Inorganic membranes;
• Hollow fiber membranes;
• Thermomechanical and chemical stable membranes;
• Three-dimensional-printed membranes;
• New synthesis routes of porous and dense membranes;
• Prospective of carbon-based nanomaterials (e.g., graphene, CNT and CNF) in membrane fabrication; 
• Prospective of metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) in membrane fabrication ; 
• Prospective of zeolites and other minerals in membrane fabrication;
• Prospective of agricultural materials (e.g., lignin and nanocrystalline cellulose) for membrane fabrication.     

- Membrane processes

• New membrane processes for water treatment , gas and bioactive molecule separation;
• Membrane-based integrated processes;
• Thermally driven membrane processes (e.g., membrane distillation);
• Osmotically driven membrane processes (e.g., forward osmosis);
• Pressure-driven membrane processes for water treatment (e.g., MF, UF, NF and RO) ; 
• Electrically driven membrane processes (e.g., electrodialysis);
• Membrane contactors;
• Membrane bioreactors;
• Organic solvent nanofiltration;
• New membrane module designs;  
• Water–energy nexus in membrane processes;
• Energy management and technoeconomic analysis of membrane processes;
•  Artificial intelligence and data analysis in membrane technology.  

- Transport phenomena

• Mathematical modeling of membrane processes;
• Transport phenomena through porous and dense membranes;
• CFD simulation;
• Concentration and temperature polarization effects.  

- Fouling mitigation and membrane cleaning

• Innovative methods to mitigate membrane fouling, e.g., ultrasound;
• Novel membrane cleaning methods;
• Water pretreatment methods for fouling mitigation.

- Characterization methods

• Advanced membrane characterization techniques;
• Microfluidic membrane mimics for fouling study at the pore scale;
• Novel microscopy methods for membrane and fouling characterization;
• Fouling study by surface energetics analysis methods, e.g., DLVO; 
• Quartz crystal microbalance method for fouling study;
• New methods to measure diffusivity and solubility of gases in membranes, e.g., new time-lag methods. 

- Membrane surface modification methods

• Chemical grafting;
• Surface coating;
• Layer-by-layer assembly;
• Surface patterning.

- Application of membrane technology 

• Prospective of membranes in the oil and gas industry;
• Prospective of membranes in the food industry;
• Prospective of membranes in agricultural wastewater treatment;
• Prospective of membranes in the textile industry;  
• Medical applications of membranes;
• Removal of volatile organic materials by pervaporation;
• Membrane processes in biotechnology.  

Membrane applications in a circular economy.

Prof. Dr. Stephen E. Rankin
Prof. Dr. Theodore T. Tsotsis
Prof. Dr. Laurent Bazinet
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Membranes is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2200 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.