The Membrane Alternative: Energy Implications for Industry: Watt Committee Report Number 21

This book is the result of a project of the Watt Committee on Energy which was asked to look into the prospective use of membranes in the energy industries and at the potential for energy conservation by using membrane technology. A team of experts chaired by Professor Howell, Director of the University of Bath's Membrane Application Centre, prepared a series of papers. These were presented at a Consultative Conference at which over 100 experts from industries affected by the technology discussed the implications of membrane usage. The result of the presentations and deliberations have been incorporated into a series of papers which comprise this book. It considers the uses of membrane technology in the chlorakali, water, food and biotechnology industries, where the major effect of the technology is an improvement in product quality often allied to a saving in energy consumption. The second major section of the book covers the implications for the power generation, oil and gas industries. It is certain that major economies of energy utilization can be achieved by using membranes, although it is likely to be convenience and quality which are the overall driving forces for their introduction. The offshore installations membranes can offer major savings in weight which is the major economic force for their introduction. They offer considerable energy savings for the production of chlorine and alkali where the alternative uses are also electrical. For the gas and chemical industries major economies have resulted in the use of membranes for the organics dehydration and for hydrogen recovery from syn-gas plants. In the future we will see oxygen enrichment and an extension of the use for high purity nitrogen production. In the USA a major conference on separation in the energy industries recently devoted half its time to membrane processes. The US Department of Energy is sponsoring several long-term fundamental projects in the field which are likely to develop exciting conference. A short summary is presented in this text.

Table of Contents:
Overview of membranes. Electrochemical process applications. Desination technologies compare. Membranes in power generation. The effect of pulsed flow on ultrafiltration fluxes in a baffled tubular membrane system. Air sterilization. Concentration in the food and beverage industries without evaporation. Fundamentals of pervaporation for ethanol/water separation. Recent advances in cellulosic membranes for gas separation and pervaporation. Hydrogen from off-gases. The applications of membrane technology in the natural gas industry. Alcohol dehydration by pervaporation. The osmotic engine. The future of membranes in the offshore industries. Twenty-first Consultative Conference of the Watt Committee on Energy. The Watt Committee on Energy. Member institutions of the Watt Committee on Energy. Watt Committee reports.