The plan of this book is to present the relevant thermodynamic features of fluid mixtures in contact with semipermeable barriers, then to apply this information in deriving the design requirements of individual membrane separation processes. The membranes, by this approach, are introduced by way of the mass transport and selectivity demands which they are to meet. This book gives a survey, in systematic order, of the terms and concepts by which barrier separations operate.

The chapters of this book are based upon lectures presented at the NATO Advanced Study Institute on Membrane Processes in Separation and Purification (March 21 - April 2, 1993, Curia, Portugal), organized as a successor and update to a similar Institute that took place 10 years ago (p.M.Bungay, H.K. Lonsdale, M.N. de Pinho (Eds.): Synthetic Membranes: Science, Engineering and Applications, NATO ASI Series, Reidel, Dordrecht, 1986). The decade between the two NATO Institutes witnesses the transition from individually researched membrane processes to an applied and established membrane separation technology, as is reflected by the contents of the corresponding proceeding volumes. By and large, the first volume presents itself as a textbook on membrane processes, still valid, while the present volume focuses on areas of separation need as amenable to membrane processing: Biotechnology and Environmental Technology. Accordingly, the contributions to this volume are grouped into "Membranes in Biotechnology" (11 papers), "Membranes in Environmental Technology" (6 papers), and "New Concepts" (4 papers). This is followed by one contribution each on "Energy Requirements" and "Education," i.e., membrane processes within an academic curriculum. The book thus amounts to a state of the art of applied membrane processing and may well augment the more fundamental approach of its predecessor.

The chapters of this book are based upon lectures presented at the NATO Advanced Study Institute on Membrane Processes in Separation and Purification (March 21 - April 2, 1993, Curia, Portugal), organized as a successor and update to a similar Institute that took place 10 years ago (p.M.Bungay, H.K. Lonsdale, M.N. de Pinho (Eds.): Synthetic Membranes: Science, Engineering and Applications, NATO ASI Series, Reidel, Dordrecht, 1986). The decade between the two NATO Institutes witnesses the transition from individually researched membrane processes to an applied and established membrane separation technology, as is reflected by the contents of the corresponding proceeding volumes. By and large, the first volume presents itself as a textbook on membrane processes, still valid, while the present volume focuses on areas of separation need as amenable to membrane processing: Biotechnology and Environmental Technology. Accordingly, the contributions to this volume are grouped into "Membranes in Biotechnology" (11 papers), "Membranes in Environmental Technology" (6 papers), and "New Concepts" (4 papers). This is followed by one contribution each on "Energy Requirements" and "Education," i.e., membrane processes within an academic curriculum. The book thus amounts to a state of the art of applied membrane processing and may well augment the more fundamental approach of its predecessor.

On the level of a textbook a self-consistent approach to liquid separations with membranes is presented, contrasting equilibrium separations with the rate-controlling effects of barrier interference on mass transfer. As a corollary objective, an effort is made to observe context, factual and historical, when introducing concepts and applications of membrane separation science. Ordering principle is the formal structure of mass transfer across permeable barriers, being construed of a driving force (allocated to the condition of the mixtures to be separated) and a barrier permeability (holding the keys to membrane selectivity). The membranes, by this approach, appear by way of the mass transport requirements which they are to meet, or else by way of the separation effects which they inspire. Exploiting barrier interference is the challenge of membrane separation science and technology. This book is about the principles behind.