Membranes最新文献

Natural gas is currently increasingly used in an energy transition framework and systematically requires upgrading processes in order to respect pipeline specifications. Carbon dioxide, and in some case hydrogen sulfide removal, is the major target of the purification step and can be achieved thanks to gas liquid absorption with chemical solvents or membrane separation. A systematic comparison of the cheap, currently used polymeric membranes and an expensive, high-performance zeolite material is reported on a natural gas upgrading case study (CH₄/CO₂ mixture), thanks to a dedicated process synthesis and optimization code (MIND). The zeolite membrane is shown to offer a simple, cost-effective one-stage process, while polymeric materials require more expensive classical two-stage processes. In a second step the impact of concentration polarization is more specifically investigated, through a process simulation study. The zeolite membrane remains the simplest, best cost-effective and most interesting process (one stage without compression, expander or vacuum pump).

The cell-penetrating peptide Pep-1 interacts with lipid membranes through combined electrostatic and hydrophobic forces, yet the structural details of its membrane remodeling activity remain unclear. Using atomic force microscopy (AFM), we examined how Pep-1 perturbs supported lipid bilayers of varying composition and geometry. In zwitterionic POPC bilayer patches, Pep-1 preferentially targeted patch boundaries, where lipid packing is less constrained, leading to edge erosion and detergent-like disintegration. Incorporation of anionic POPS enhanced peptide binding and localized disruption, giving rise to elevated annular rims, holes, and peptide-lipid aggregates. In cholesterol-containing POPC bilayer patches, Pep-1 induced extensive surface reorganization marked by protruded, ridge-like features, consistent with lipid redistribution and curvature generation. In continuous POPC/POPS bilayers lacking free edges, Pep-1 formed discrete, flower-like protrusions that coalesced into an interconnected network of thickened peptide-rich domains. These findings reveal composition-dependent remodeling pathways in which Pep-1 destabilizes, reorganizes, or curves membranes according to their mechanical and electrostatic properties, providing new insight into peptide-membrane interactions relevant to cell-penetrating peptide translocation.

The transport efficiency of anisotropic functional membranes is largely dictated by the geometry and orientation of their internal pores. In this study, a numerical finite-volume framework was developed to evaluate how elliptical pore eccentricity (εcc) and orientation influence charge transport and effective conductivity (ek) within two-dimensional porous membrane microstructures. Canonical stochastic domains with controlled porosity were generated, considering parallel and perpendicular aligned configurations of the major pore axis relative to the imposed potential gradient. Results demonstrated a strong orientation dependence: under perpendicular alignment, the effective conductivity decreased by up to 70% as εcc increased from 0.5 to 0.999, while parallel alignment maintained at ek > 0.8 even for highly elongated pores. The aspect ratio (b/a) was identified as a secondary geometric modulator producing opposite conductivity trends depending on orientation. Through isotropy-error analysis, a critical morphological threshold at εcc ≈ 0.9 was found, indicating the onset of structural anisotropy and loss of isotropic transport. These results establish a quantitative structure-property relationship linking pore geometry to macroscopic transport performance. The proposed stochastic FVM-based approach provides a generalizable and computationally efficient tool for the design and optimization of anisotropic porous membranes used in electrochemical and energy-conversion devices.

Protein fouling can significantly reduce the filtrate flux, capacity, and virus retention during processing of plasma- or mammalian cell-derived biopharmaceuticals through virus removal filters. We use focused ion beam (FIB) milling and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to directly evaluate changes in 3D pore structure in a Viresolve^® Pro membrane due to fouling by human serum immunoglobulin G. Protein fouling causes a significant reduction in the membrane porosity, which decreases by approximately 40% in the size-selective region near the exit of the highly asymmetric Viresolve^® Pro membrane after the filter is fouled to 90% flux decline. There is a corresponding reduction in the number of small pores by more than a factor of two. Model simulations of flow and particle transport in the protein-fouled membrane are in good agreement with independent experimental measurements of the permeability and location of particle capture. Simulations show an upstream shift in the location of nanoparticle capture (away from the filter exit) by about 0.4 µm for the membrane fouled to 90% flux decline. This is due to pore constriction from protein deposition, highlighting how fouling redistributes flow paths within the membrane. These results demonstrate the capability of using FIB-SEM to directly evaluate the effects of protein fouling on the 3D pore structure in virus removal filters, providing important insights into how protein fouling alters the performance of these highly selective membranes.

Membrane distillation (MD) is a promising technology for reducing the volume of high-salinity brines generated from desalination plants, yet limited knowledge exists regarding its fouling behavior under long-term operation. In this study, fouling was investigated through the autopsy of a hollow fiber MD module operated for 120 days in a direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD) configuration using real desalination brine. Despite stable salt rejection exceeding 99%, a gradual decline in flux and permeability was observed, indicating progressive fouling and partial wetting. Post-operation analyses, including SEM, EDS, ICP-OES, and FT-IR, revealed that the dominant foulants were inorganic scales, particularly calcium carbonate (CaCO₃), with minor contributions from suspended particles (SiO₂, Fe) and organic matter. Fouling was more severe in the inlet and inner regions of the module due to intensified temperature and concentration polarization, which promoted supersaturation and scale deposition. These combined effects led to a reduction in membrane hydrophobicity and liquid entry pressure, ultimately accelerating partial wetting and performance deterioration. The findings provide valuable insights into the spatial fouling behavior and mechanisms in MD systems, highlighting the importance of hydrodynamic optimization and fouling mitigation strategies for long-term brine concentration applications.

The application of cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) in membrane protein structural biology has catalyzed unprecedented advances in our understanding of fundamental biological processes and transformed drug discovery paradigms. This review briefly describes the biological achievements enabled using cryo-EM techniques, including single particle analysis (SPA), micro-electron diffraction (microED), and subtomogram averaging (STA), in elucidating the structures and functions of membrane proteins, ion channels, transporters, and viral glycoproteins. We highlight how these structural insights have revealed druggable sites, enabled structure-based drug design, and provided mechanistic understanding of disease processes. Key biological targets include G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), ion channels implicated in neurological disorders, respiratory chain complexes, viral entry machinery, and membrane transporters. The integration of cryo-EM with computational drug design has already yielded clinical candidates and approved therapeutics, marking a new era in membrane protein pharmacology.

Reverse electrodialysis (RED) is a relatively recent technology for renewable energy harvesting from the interaction of river and seawater. This paper revisits the thermodynamic equilibrium governing the ionic transport processes through ion-exchange membranes (IEMs) under RED conditions and theoretically derives approximate analytical expressions for the ionic concentrations at the inner boundaries of a permeable membrane with well-stirred baths. The equation for the Donnan ion partitioning at the membrane-solution interface, which is based on the equality of the electrochemical potential in the two phases, is analysed for binary salts with symmetric (1:1) and asymmetric (2:1) electrolytes, by considering bathing solutions with the equivalent concentrations 0.02 M in the dilute bath, and 0.5, 1, and 1.5 M in the concentrate one. Simple approximate analytical expressions exhibiting the evolution with the membrane fixed-charge concentration of the counter-ionic concentrations at the inner boundaries of the membrane, the concentration gradients inside the membrane, the total Donnan electric potential, and the ionic partitioning coefficients have been derived. The approximate generalised expressions for a general z₁:z₂ binary electrolyte are also presented for the first time.

A techno-economic and environmental evaluation of dehydrating five industrially relevant solvents (isopropanol, acetonitrile, tetrahydrofuran, acetic acid, and n-methyl-2-pyrrolidone) using pervaporation-based processes was performed and compared to their respective traditional distillation processes. A standalone pervaporation and two hybrid processes (i.e., distillation-pervaporation and distillation-pervaporation-distillation) employing HybSi^® AR membranes were simulated in Aspen Plus, where the pervaporation module was modeled as a separator block that followed the experimental data. The experiments were performed at a vacuum pressure of 20 mbar and a temperature of 130 °C. The performance was compared based on several technical, economic, and environmental measures, of which key metrics are the levelized cost of separation (LCOS) and CO₂ footprint reduction. From the economic perspective, the pervaporation-based processes are much more economical than the distillation processes for isopropanol (up to 42% reduction in LCOS) and acetonitrile (up to 39% reduction in LCOS), while their economic performance is similar to the benchmark process in the case of tetrahydrofuran (only up to 4% reduction in LCOS). For acetic acid (9% higher LCOS) and n-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (124% higher LCOS), the pervaporation-based processes do not perform better than the distillation processes under the current technical and economic considerations. However, a sensitivity analysis showed the potential to make the pervaporation-based processes more economical by improving the permeate flux and membrane module cost. On the other hand, the pervaporation-based processes are much more environmentally friendly for all the solvents studied compared to their respective benchmark processes. The reduction in CO₂ footprint is in the order of 86%, 82%, 73%, 82%, and 65%, respectively, for the aforementioned solvents.

The ultimate objective of this research is to concentrate nutrients-nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K)-and produce process water from a chemically pretreated liquid digestate using an FO-RO hybrid process. However, in this manuscript, we assessed the suitability of (NH₄)₂SO₄ and NaCl as draw solutes in a series of FO experiments employing a commercial CTA membrane and DI water as the feed solution. We also examined the regeneration of (NH₄)₂SO₄ in a series of RO experiments at various feed concentrations and pressures using a commercial polyamide (PA) thin-film composite (TFC) membrane, ACM4. Additionally, the RO experiments enabled the experimental determination of the osmotic pressure of (NH₄)₂SO₄ at various feed concentrations, which is crucial for designing the FO part of the hybrid process. The CTA membrane exhibited a significantly greater selectivity for (NH₄)₂SO₄ than for NaCl at any osmotic pressure. The RO experiments demonstrated the possibility of reconcentrating (NH₄)₂SO₄ to 0.5 mol/L, with a corresponding water flux of 60 L h^-1 m^-2 at 40 bars. The experimentally determined osmotic pressures were lower than those predicted by van't Hoff's equation but were consistent with those reported in the literature using an indirect hygrometric method.

MXenes, members of two-dimensional materials, were discovered in 2011 for the first time. MXenes are famous nowadays for their attractive and unique properties such as hydrophilicity, surface area, and catalytic activity for various industrial applications. This review comprehensively focused on composite membranes with MXenes that can be directly deployed for water purification. Moreover, this review will also give significant insight into new synthetic approaches for MXene-based composite membranes. A review of the utilization of MXene-based composite membranes in modern separation techniques such as nanofiltration, ultrafiltration, and forward osmosis has also been summarized. Finally, the current issues and future perspectives on applying two-dimensional materials for water treatment are elaborately discussed.