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Since the 1950s, with the development of organic polymer chemistry, membrane separation technology, represented by polymer organic separation membranes, has emerged. It boasts advantages such as high separation efficiency, low energy consumption, and simple operation, and has achieved significant development, becoming a major method for separation and purification. Based on differences in separation precision and driving force, membrane separation can be classified into the following types:
Types of membranes | Membrane Function | Separation driving force | Through matter | Intercepted materials |
Microfiltration | Porous membranes, microfiltration of solutions, demicronization | Pressure difference | Water, solvent and dissolved substances | Suspended solids, bacteria, microparticles, and macromolecular organic matter |
Ultrafiltration | Remove colloids and various macromolecules from solution | Pressure difference | Solvents, ions and small molecules | Proteins, various enzymes, bacteria, viruses, colloids, microparticles |
Reverse osmosis and nanofiltration | Remove salts and low-molecular-weight substances from the solution | Pressure difference | Water and solvents | Inorganic salts, sugars, amino acids, organic matter, etc. |
Dialysis | Remove salts and low-molecular-weight substances from the solution | Concentration difference | Ions, low molecular weight substances, acids, bases | Inorganic salts, sugars, amino acids, organic matter, etc. |
Electrodialysis | Removal of ions from solution | Potential difference | ion | Inorganic and organic ions |
Pervaporation | Separation of low molecular weight molecules and solvents in solution | Pressure difference, concentration difference | steam | Liquids, inorganic salts, and ethanol solutions |
Gas separation | Gas, gas and vapor separation | Concentration difference | Permeable gas | Not permeable to liquid |
The figure shows the types of separation membranes categorized by separation principle and by the size of the substances being separated. It demonstrates that, apart from dialysis membranes which are primarily used in medical applications, almost all separation membrane technologies can be applied to any separation, purification, and concentration process. Reverse osmosis and nanofiltration, as major water and other liquid separation membranes, hold significant positions in the field of separation membranes.
