Process of Membrane Separation: Comparison with Competing Traditional Processes

A special issue of Membranes (ISSN 2077-0375). This special issue belongs to the section "Membrane Processing and Engineering".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 July 2020) | Viewed by 13022

Special Issue Editor

LAQV, REQUIMTE Department of Chemistry, Lab. 505, FCT, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, P-2829-516 Caparica, Portugal
Interests: membrane separation processes; online mass spectrometry for characterization of mixed gas/vapor transport properties of dense films; biorefinery; membrane emulsification
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Society is facing serious problems related to the increase of the world population and the need to have more economically viable processes, along with the use of renewable energy and feedstock sources. This necessity is expressed in the goal 9 of the 2030 agenda of EU (build resilient infrastructure, promote sustainable industrialization, and foster innovation). Membrane technologies are candidates with high potential in separation processes to partially (in an integrated process) or totally replace traditional separation processes (e.g., evaporation, adsorption, and chromatography). Indeed, membrane technologies are becoming more versatile, as they process gas and aqueous streams but also organic streams (in organic solvent nanofiltration). Membranes may increase their lifetime when using, e.g., ceramic membranes and may operate in one step or in cascade configuration. Further, they address the purification of the target compounds but also solvent recycling.

The suitability of membrane technologies in separation processes should be compared with competing traditional technologies by performing a comparative process analysis (including safety issues), a technoeconomic analysis (including energy consumption and sensitivity analyses of the most relevant parameters), an environmental analysis (e.g., green metrics) or a life cycle analysis.

Dr. Carla Brazinha
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • Membrane processing
  • Industrial traditional process
  • Process design
  • Technoeconomic analysis
  • Environmental analysis
  • LCA Life cycle analysis

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

18 pages, 5241 KiB  
Article
Modelling and Optimisation of Multi-Stage Flash Distillation and Reverse Osmosis for Desalination of Saline Process Wastewater Sources
by Andras Jozsef Toth
Membranes 2020, 10(10), 265; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes10100265 - 28 Sep 2020
Cited by 49 | Viewed by 8378
Abstract
Nowadays, there is increasing interest in advanced simulation methods for desalination. The two most common desalination methods are multi-stage flash distillation (MSF) and reverse osmosis (RO). Numerous research works have been published on these separations, however their simulation appears to be difficult due [...] Read more.
Nowadays, there is increasing interest in advanced simulation methods for desalination. The two most common desalination methods are multi-stage flash distillation (MSF) and reverse osmosis (RO). Numerous research works have been published on these separations, however their simulation appears to be difficult due to their complexity, therefore continuous improvement is required. The RO, in particular, is difficult to model, because the liquids to be separated also depend specifically on the membrane material. The aim of this study is to model steady-state desalination opportunities of saline process wastewater in flowsheet environment. Commercial flowsheet simulator programs were investigated: ChemCAD for thermal desalination and WAVE program for membrane separation. The calculation of the developed MSF model was verified based on industrial data. It can be stated that both simulators are capable of reducing saline content from 4.5 V/V% to 0.05 V/V%. The simulation results are in accordance with the expectations: MSF has higher yield, but reverse osmosis is simpler process with lower energy demand. The main additional value of the research lies in the comparison of desalination modelling in widely commercially available computer programs. Furthermore, complex functions are established between the optimized operating parameters of multi-stage flash distillation allowing to review trends in flash steps for complete desalination plants. Full article
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33 pages, 2983 KiB  
Article
Comparison and Combination of Organic Solvent Nanofiltration and Adsorption Processes: A Mathematical Approach for Mitigation of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient Losses during Genotoxin Removal
by Flávio Ferreira, Leonor Resina, Teresa Esteves and Frederico Castelo Ferreira
Membranes 2020, 10(4), 73; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes10040073 - 16 Apr 2020
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 3709
Abstract
Active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) are synthesized using highly reactive reagents, catalysts, and solvents. Some of those persist as impurities in the final product and are genotoxic or carcinogenic. The conventional processes used for API purification and isolation are able to achieve the limits [...] Read more.
Active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) are synthesized using highly reactive reagents, catalysts, and solvents. Some of those persist as impurities in the final product and are genotoxic or carcinogenic. The conventional processes used for API purification and isolation are able to achieve the limits imposed by regulatory agencies, but at the expense of significant API losses. Here we report the development of a model to aid in the decision of which dedicated purification process, membrane or adsorption, is most suitable for removal of genotoxic impurities (GTIs), according with a small set of key intrinsic parameters. A hybrid process was developed, combining these two unit operations, to be applied when the use of OSN or adsorption alone result on non-acceptable API losses. Membrane solute rejection and solvent flux was used as parameter for OSN. In the case of adsorption, two isotherm models, Langmuir and Freundlich, were considered. The effect of the recirculation stream and amount of adsorber used on the hybrid process was investigated. Case studies were experimentally validated, confirming that combining the two unit operations can reduce API loss from 24.76% in OSN to 9.76% in a hybrid process. Economic and environmental analyses were performed. Full article
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