Lecture: Electrodriven Membrane Processes: Approaches and Challenges Ahead 

Lecturer: Prof. Bart Van der Bruggen, Department of Chemical Engineering, KU Leuven, Belgium 

Time: 9:30 am, Oct 15, 2015 

Location: Meeting Room 214 of Administration Building 

Introduction of Lecturer: 

Prof. Bart Van der Bruggen of KU Leuven is an international famous expert in Membrane science and technology. He serves as the President of the European Membrane Society (EMS), the Chief Editor of Separation and Purification Technologyand the Executive Editor of Journal of Chemical Technology and Biotechnology. He authored over 260 publications in international journals (current h-factor: 47). He received several national and international prizes as recognition for his work, including the Prince Abdulaziz International Prize for Water. Professor Van der Bruggen has important international influence in nanofiltration, ion exchange membrane, membrane preparation and membrane processes. 

Lecture Abstract:  

This presentation will give a general introduction to current membrane research and applications, with a focus on electrodriven membrane processes. The use of an electrical potential difference as the driving force for membrane separations has been known since well over half a century, but applications remained limited to a small selection until the turn of the century. Desalination of brackish water is the most well-known of these traditional applications. 

Since the turn of the centuries, however, electromembrane processes have become a very dynamic field, which completes the separation spectrum of membrane technologies. This is related to several new trends in the technology: 

(1) Bipolar membranes have opened a new range of applications, which are of high industrial interest in view of the development of sustainable processes, and allow for recycling of brines; 

(2) The selectivity of electromembranes has been enhanced by intrinsic modifications to the membranes, and by engineering of electromembrane processes (or a combination of both); 

(3) New processes were developed in which an efficient separation of charged compounds is required, such as in electromembrane extraction of peptides and in electromembrane (bio)reactors. 

These trends make electromembrane separations to a field with exciting prospects with an outlook to viable applications in various interesting markets. It requires, however, research and development in integrated disciplines. These relate to product recycling, chemical and biochemical engineering, and polymer science and technology. As a result, should be considered rather a trend than a hype.