Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 2007, 46, 2235
2235
Preface: “Advanced Membrane Technology III: Membrane Engineering for Process Intensification” Conference The way to satisfy the increasing demand for raw materials, energy, and products under the constraints imposed by the concept of sustainable development is a complex problem; possible solutions can be found through rational integration and implementation of new industrial, economical, environmental, and social strategies. A possible route to more-sustainable industrial growth is offered by the Process Intensification Strategy, which is a design approach aimed at leading to concrete benefits in manufacturing and processing, substantially shrinking equipment size, boosting plant efficiency, saving energy, reducing capital costs, minimizing environmental impact, increasing safety, using remote control and automation, etc. In this context, an interesting and important case is the continuous growth of modern membrane engineering, whose basic aspects satisfy the requirements of process intensification. In fact, it is well-recognized that membrane processes have the potential to replace conventional energy-intensive separation techniques, such as distillation and evaporation, to accomplish the selective and efficient transport of specific components, to improve the performance of reactive processes, and, in the ultimate instance, to provide reliable options for a sustainable industrial growth. Moreover, membrane operations, such as molecular separations, catalytic membrane reactors, membrane contactors, etc., with their intrinsic characteristics of efficiency and operational simplicity, compatibility between different membrane operations in integrated systems, low energy requirement, good stability under operative conditions, environmental compatibility, easy control and scaleup, and large flexibility, offer an interesting answer for an advanced rationalization of a large variety of industrial processes. In several different fields, these potentialities have been already realized. The growth in membrane installations for water treatment, for example, has been exponential over the past decade; this has resulted in a decreased cost of desalination facilities, with the consequence that the cost of the reclaimed water from membrane plants has been also reduced. Today, membrane technology is recognized as the most convenient approach in desalination, producing daily more water than thermal systems. Other areas, such as biochemical engineering, regenerative medicine, packaging, petrochemical industry, etc., have seen continuous innovations that, in the future, will lead to significant increased use of membrane operations in these sectors. The conference, “Advanced Membrane Technology III: Membrane Engineering for Process Intensification”, which was held on June 11-15, 2006 in Cetraro (CS), Italy, under the patronage of the Engineering Conference International (ECI-New York) and with the collaboration of the Institute on Membrane Technology (ITM-CNR) addressed the progress in membrane engineering and its strong relation with the Process Intensification Strategy. Seven scientific sessions were planned for the following topics: membrane engineering for process intensification, membrane contactors, integrated and hybrid membrane operations, membrane engineering for regenerative medicine, membrane engineering in desalination and water treatment, catalytic membranes and membrane reactors, and membrane engineering and microelectronic membrane devices. Furthermore, two poster sessions, covering all the previous topics, were also organized. The above topics were featured, with particular emphasis on the industrial contributions. There were also discussions on the existing limits of membrane engineering and future possible developments in new nontraditional areas. This issue of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research includes 16 contributions from this conference.
Enrico Drioli Institute on Membrane Technology (ITM-CNR), UniVersity of Calabria, 87030 Rende, Italy
Donald R. Paul Department of Chemical Engineering, UniVersity of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712 IE078000W 10.1021/ie078000w CCC: $37.00 © 2007 American Chemical Society Published on Web 04/04/2007
