Perspective: Process intensification strategies and membrane engineering

17 Apr 2012

In this perspective, Enrico Drioli and colleagues evaluate how membrane systems can help achieve ‘green process engineering’.

The principles of a process intensification strategy can lead to the development and redesign of new processes which are more compact and efficient than their traditional counterparts. These new processes can allow for better exploitation of raw materials, lower energy consumption and a reduced plant volume. Membrane technologies can be seen as contributing to these principles and over the last few years, the scope for membrane operations has become widely recognised.

In this perspective article, the authors provide an overview of membrane applications and their perspectives in the fields of hydrogen production and distillation will be analysied through case studies. The aim of this review is to show how redesigning traditional operations as membrane systems might contribute to the realization of the goals of process intensification.

This article is free to access until the 16th May 2012! Click on the link below to find out more…

Process intensification strategies and membrane engineering, Enrico Drioli, Adele Brunetti, Gianluca Di Profio and Giuseppe Barbieri, Green Chem., 2012, DOI: 10.1039/C2GC16668B