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Cerafiltec's ceramic flat membranes are being implemented in four membrane bioreactor (MBR) projects for wastewater treatment in Italy, Mexico, the UAE, and Africa. These ceramic membranes will replace traditional polymeric membranes, such as hollow fiber and flat sheet designs, across the sites, which collectively handle 13.7 million liters of water per day. The projects range from smaller industrial MBRs processing 250 m³/day to larger municipal MBRs with capacities of up to 10,000 m³/day. Each ceramic membrane plate features two water outlets per side and can be assembled into modules containing up to 34 interchangeable membranes with internal water piping. In high-sludge environments, the number of membranes can be reduced to prevent clogging. Up to 16 modules can be stacked into a tower and connected to other towers through a common pipe, offering a modular and scalable design.  Single ceramic membrane plate with double side filtered water outlet. Image Credit(Cerafiltec) One of the key advantages of Cerafiltec's ceramic membranes is their non-metallic construction, which allows them to operate with high flux and reduces the required filter area, leading to significant capital expenditure (CAPEX) savings. Their resistance to corrosion also makes them ideal for challenging applications, including those involving high temperatures. The membranes' long-lasting durability reduces maintenance and replacement needs, providing operational expenditure (OPEX) savings over polymeric alternatives. Julius Gloeckner, Chief Growth Officer at Cerafiltec, highlighted the company's mission to transform water filtration by leveraging the superior properties of ceramic materials. These membranes are helping clients meet their water filtration goals efficiently, while supporting sustainability through a circular economy. The successful acquisition of these projects demonstrates the growing global demand for ceramic membrane technology. Reference: Aquatech
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Pervaporation: A Resourceful and Energy-Efficient Technique to Fluid Separation
By Secoya Technologies Pervaporation stands as a membrane separation technique that combines permeation and evaporation, offering an energy-efficient method for extracting volatile compounds from solutions through a selective membrane. By applying a vacuum or introducing a flow of purge gas on one side of a dense membrane, volatile compounds within a liquid flow diffuse through the membrane. This process can dehydrate organic solutions and eliminate organic contaminants from aqueous solutions using selective membranes. Unlike other methods, pervaporation bypasses azeotropic limitations due to its utilization of a dense membrane, enhancing its energetic efficiency. To enhance efficiency and control, Secoya integrated the pervaporation process into a microfluidic device, reducing its footprint. Figure: Schematic working principle of pervaporation (Secoya, 2024) As stated, “Modeling the microfluidic pervaporation device alongside optimization algorithms enables us to determine the most favourable outcome based on the mixture's thermodynamic properties. This facilitates easy evaluation of process feasibility and allows for the proposal of a suitable design. Subsequent small-scale tests serve to validate the model, after which the pervaporation device can be manufactured and equipped with instruments.” The potential applications of pervaporation include inline removal of alcohol from cell cultures to boost productivity, intensification of esterification or elimination reactions through equilibrium displacement, liquid/liquid separation, especially with temperature-sensitive (bio-) products, gas perfusion in various processes, and concentration of aqueous solutions. For different pervaporation equipment, kindly check the Secoya website. Membrane Structure Biological membranes are external boundaries of cells and regulate the molecular traffic across that boundary. Their selective permeability makes them retain certain compounds and ions within specific cellular compartments while excluding others. The structure and functions of biological membranes are ascribed to their protein and polar lipid components as well as carbohydrates present as part of glycoproteins and glycolipids. Membranes are 5 to 8 nm (50 to 80 Å) thick and appear trilaminar when viewed in cross section with the electron microscope [1]. The structure of biological membrane is a typical of a fluid mosaic model as the phospholipids form a bilayer (the basic structural element of membranes) and the integral/transmembrane proteins (e.g. porins, glycophorin, bacteriorhodopsin etc.) hold strong association with lipid bilayer, held by hydrophobic interactions with their nonpolar amino acid side chains, and cannot easily become detached. While the peripheral membrane proteins hold weak interactions with the surface of the bilayer and can easily be detached from the membrane. [1, 2, 3]  Image: Biological membrane
Source: saylordotorg.github.io [5] Membrane Dynamics The flexibility i.e., the ability to change shape without losing integrity and becoming leaky is a remarkable feature of all biological membrane. This feature depends on the kinds of lipid present and change with temperature. Transbilayer movement of lipids also occurs which may be uncatalyzed diffusion of lipid molecule from one leaflet of the bilayer to the other called a flip-flop diffusion or can be facilitated by several family proteins such as flippases, floppases and scramblases. Flippases (ATP dependent) catalyze the translocation of amino phospholipids from the extracellular to the cytosolic leaflet, Floppases (ATP dependent) move plasma membrane phospholipids from the cytosolic to extracellular leaflet and Scramblases are proteins that moves any membrane phospholipids across the bilayer down its concentration gradients, activated by Ca 2+ . Membrane curvature occurs due to the presence of cavolin forcing membrane to curve inward to form caveolae, probably involved in membrane transport and signaling. This membrane curvature mediates the fusion of two membranes, which accompanies process such as endocytosis, exocytosis and viral invasion. [1, 3] Membrane Transport Few nonpolar compounds can dissolve in the lipid bilayer and cross membrane unassisted, but for transmembrane of any polar compound or ion, a membrane protein or ion channel is important. Membrane proteins aid the diffusion of solute down its concentration gradient. Transport can also occur against a gradient concentration, electrical charge or both. All process requires energy from either ATP hydrolysis or energy release by solute moving down its electrochemical gradient to move another solute up its gradient [1]. Membrane transport can be; PASSIVE TRANSPORT: this is driven by the kinetic energy of the molecules being transported or by membrane transporters by facilitate crossing e.g. simple diffusion, facilitated diffusion and osmosis. ACTIVE TRANSPORT: this depends upon the expenditure of cellular energy in the form of ATP hydrolysis. There are two major active transport; Primary active transport: solute accumulation is coupled to an exergonic chemical reaction such as the conversion of ATP to ADP + Pi Secondary active transport: here, endergonic (uphill) transport of one solute is coupled to the exergonic (downhill) flow of a different solute that was originally pumped uphill by primary active transport [1, 4]. Authors I. T. Adebayo, ScoreBooster Online Classroom J. K. Adewole, National University of Science & Technology Literature Cited 1. David L. N., Michael M. C. Lehninger Principles of Biochemistry W.H. Freeman and Company New York; Fifth Edition, 2008. 2. Biological Membrane: https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/materials-science/biological- membrane 3. Biological Membrane: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biological_membrane 4. Biology for 4ISC: https://biology4isc.weebly.com/cell-membranes.html 5. Membrane and Membrane Lipids: https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fsaylordotorg.github.io%2Ftext_the- basics-of-general-organic-and-biological-chemistry%2Fs20-03-membranes-and-membrane- lipids.html&psig=AOvVaw2RrydTx4w4VUwMVmaxOXn_&ust=1695219196468000&source=imag es&cd=vfe&opi=89978449&ved=0CBAQjRxqFwoTCIjE4OjttoEDFQAAAAAdAAAAABAE membranetechbrief November 2023 |