Functional Nanostructured Membranes

The membrane is considered the heart of every separation process because it is materialized as a nanostructured/nanofunctionalized thin barrier that controls the exchange between two phases, not only by external forces and under the effect of fluid properties, but also through the intrinsic characteristics of the membrane material itself. This book compiles cutting-edge research in membrane science, nanomaterials, and nanotechnologies, mainly from interdisciplinary research groups at the Institute on Membrane Technology, National Research Council (IMT-CNR), Italy, working on membrane design, membrane process engineering, and selected materials and practices for enhanced transport mass, charge, and energy. The topics covered in this book include the design of new nanostructured membranes with improved properties, together with the identification of efficient transport–property relationships. This book shares and strengthens the knowledge of making membrane technology a much more powerful and eco-friendly route that will enable one to provide prospectively new solutions and benefits for numerous fields of applications where traditional separation technologies suffer many deficiencies. It is a great reference for researchers and investigators; graduate, PhD, and postgraduate students; and end users interested in membrane science and technology, nanomaterials, eco-friendly separation, chemistry, biology, and process engineering.

Enrico Drioli is emeritus professor at the School of Engineering, University of Calabria, Italy; WCU distinguished visiting professor, Hanyang University, Seoul Korea, since 2010; and distinguished adjunct professor at the Center of Excellence in Desalination Technology (CEDT), King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, since 2012. He is a member of many international societies, scientific committees, editorial boards, and international advisory boards and the founding director of the Institute on Membrane Technology, National Research Council (IMT-CNR), Italy. Currently, he is chairman of the Section on Membrane Engineering, European Federation of Chemical Engineering; coordinator of the European Union’s Erasmus Mundus Doctorate in Membrane Engineering (EU-EUDIME), Doctorate School on Membrane Engineering ; and honorary president of the European Membrane Society (EMS) since 1999. He has also been the coordinator of several international research projects. Dr. Drioli has received many awards, including the Richard Maling Barrer Prize of the EMS, the Academician Semenov Medal of Russian Academy of Engineering Science, and the MIAC International Award, for his contributions in the field of membrane science and technology. He is the author of more than 800 scientific papers and 28 books on membrane science and technology and owns 22 patents. His research activities focus on membrane science and engineering, membranes in artificial organs, integrated membrane processes, membrane preparation and transport phenomena in membranes, membrane distillation and membrane contactors, and catalytic membrane and catalytic membrane reactors.

Lidietta Giorno is director of the ITM-CNR since 2009. She is an expert on membrane science and technology and one of the female scientists of the highest scientific profile who are engaged in the development of the country. She received the 2011 Guido Dorso Award for research, sponsored by the Italian Senate and the University of Naples Federico II, and the Sapio Red Carpet Award in 2016. She has been president of the EMS council and editor of the EMS membrane newsletter. She is an honorary member of the EMS since 2014. Dr. Giorno is a coauthor of 8 books and over 110 peer-reviewed scientific papers and coeditor of the Encyclopedia of Membranes (2016), Springer.

Annarosa Gugliuzza is a research scientist at the ITM-CNR since 2001. She worked at the University of Ann Arbor, MI, USA, and POLYMAT, University of the Basque Country, Spain. She has a strong background in chemistry and materials science and technology and is an expert in the design of nanostructured membranes with high levels of organization, structure, chemistry, and dynamics, along with associated properties, including sensing, wetting, self-cleaning, separation, transport, and catalysis. She is a member of PhD school committees, editorial boards, and research proposal reviewer boards. She is the editor of two books, one of which has been translated into Chinese, a guest editor of some special issues, and a coauthor of more than 70 contributions, including papers and editorials in peer-reviewed international journals, chapters and prefaces in books, and entries in the Encyclopedia of Membranes.