In chemical industry, the chemical engineering community is already paying significant attention to the quest for technologies that would lead us to the goal of technological sustainability. In this context, improved membrane material has come a long way over the past three decades from a simple laboratory curiosity to full-fledged commercial environmentally friendly technology to answer the multifarious demands of chemical industry. Also, newly developed HF membrane contactors with super hydrophobic membrane have proved to be efficient contacting devices, due to their improved hydrophobicity and high area per unit volume that results in high mass transfer rates. Membrane contactor processes, in which phase contacting is performed or facilitated by the structure and shape of the porous membrane, provide a new dimension to the growth of membrane science and technology and also satisfy the requirements for process intensification. Some of the specific examples of HF technology are as follows: gas-liquid applications including oxygen desorption for industrial scale boilers, from ultrapure water, for absorption applications and at smaller scale, for blood oxygenation in open heart surgery. Recent progresses include selection of better contactor membrane materials and/ or modification of existing membranes via coating/surface modification or development of an altogether new material or membrane structure. High free volume polymer-based dense coatings with high gas permeabilities can eliminate membrane pore wetting caused by various absorbents. A number of examples of ILMs for gas separation show extended stability. Membranes with greater solvent resistance have appeared for membrane contactors for L-L processes. Prevention of loss of organic solvent-extractant acting as a SLM continues to be challenging. Introduction of fiber sorbents has facilitated applications of gas-solid membrane contactors. Porous hollow fiber membranes facilitate high efficiency mixing of anti-solvent with a crystallizing solution to enable continuous processes for crystallization as well as forming a polymer coating on suspended crystals and nanoparticles. This invited talk presents the overview of HF technology and their commercial applications in chemical industries including current scenario of these techniques applied worldwide. Attempts are made to focus future progresses in membrane engineering.
Anil Kumar Pabby was serving Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), Tarapur, Mumbai, Maharashtra, as Senior Scientist (Scientific Officer, G). Now, he is retired on superannuation in July 2021. He did his Ph.D. from University of Mumbai, India and subsequently carried out his postdoctoral work at Technical university of Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain. He has more than 190 publications to his credit including 20 chapters and two patent on non-dispersive membrane technology. He has taken a leading role in publishing “Handbook of membrane separation: Chemical, pharmaceutical, food and biotechnological applications’ in July 2008 and second edition published in April 2015. Also, he has been awarded with prestigious Tarun Datta Memorial award (instituted by Indian Association Nuclear Chemist and Allied Scientist) in 2005 for his excellent contribution in Nuclear and Radiochemistry. He is serving as Editor/editorial/advisory board member of some international peer reviewed journals (Separation and Purification Reviews, Desalination (2010-2014), Desalination and Water Treatment, Membrane Technology, Applied Membrane Science and Technology, Journal of Radioanalytical & Nuclear Chemistry (Editor 2001-2005).
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