ABSTRACT
Environmental engineering and environmental science are undergoing drastic and rapid changes. Environmental restrictions throughout the world have urged the scientic vision of man to be more pronounced and more pragmatic. The grit and determination of the environmental scientist is challenging and holistic. In this respect, the application area of membrane science or nanoltration (NF) comes into play. Going back over the events in the membrane world, one cannot help being pleasantly and drastically surprised at the remarkable progress in many aspects of this ubiquitous technology. The development of the Sourirajan-Loeb synthetic membrane in 1960 provided a valuable separation tool to the process industries, but it faced considerable resistance in its early stages. The situation is different and more pragmatic today: Membranes are more robust, modules and equipment are better designed (if the feedstream can be pumped, the changes of one or more of the modules available today will be able to handle it), and we have a better understanding of the fouling phenomenon and how to minimize its effects. More importantly, costs have come down signicantly, partly because of maturing of technology and partly because of the
competition from an increasing number of membrane suppliers and original equipment manufacturers. Our present review will highlight the importance of NF as a visionary, challenging, and effective separation technique in the present and immediate dawn of the future. The challenge ahead and in a visionary future is ever growing. The vision and aim is to project NF as an effective tool for the immense domain of separation science.
