Abstract
The use of membranes for separating gaseous and liquid
mixtures has grown dramatically in the past 15 years.
Applications have been dominated by light gas separations and
water purification. During this pioneering period, equipment
containing the membrane surfaces has been developed to a point
where failures are minimal and the membranes themselves are
sufficiently rugged. For each application, the membrane
material itself is the key to the separation.
Among the potential application areas of membranes is
that of waste minimization. This area is emphasized in the
paper, with recognition that a combination of membranes and
other separation techniques may represent the optimal design
from a cost-energy point of view.
It is concluded that the use of membranes will expand
further into the field of industrial separations, with membrane
materials being tailor-made to provide both high selectivities and
large throughputs.
Fair, J. R. (1992). Membrane Separations Research. Energy Systems Laboratory (http://esl.eslwin.tamu.edu). Available electronically from
https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /92187.