Event Details

This lecture discusses how different membrane functionalities impact on their performance.

Similarly to biological membranes, synthetic membranes may be designed in order to organize the physical space, allowing for defining different “compartments” and regulating the transport of diverse (bio)chemical species between them. This permselectivity behaviour results from specific functionalities of membranes, which may be achieved by designing their morphology, chemical character and topography.

Transport regulation may be achieved by making use of different mechanisms – size exclusion, coulombic interactions, affinity interactions -, that determine the rate of selective transport of different species. This lecture discusses the structure-function relation in synthetic membranes and how this relation can be used in favour of specific membrane processes. Different case- studies will be discussed, namely for membrane bioreactors targeting specific solutes and for membrane contactors regulating the transport of ionic species. The use of membrane contactors in order to induce protein crystallization will be discussed in detail.

The relevance of membrane topography will be also addressed aiming the design of different functionalities: regulation of the hydrophilic / hydrophobic character of the membrane surface; improvement of fluid dynamics / mass transfer conditions at the membrane surface, optimising the energy input efficiency; offering an ordered surface for adhesion of target molecules. These functionalities will be discussed and illustrated with several case-studies.Finally, the need for membranes that after being used and disposed can be easily biodegraded, avoiding the accumulation of synthetic polymers in landfills, with potential contamination of soils and water bodies, will be addressed. The development of biopolymeric membranes, that should be sufficiently stable to assure a prolonged operating lifetime but, simultaneously, easy to degrade when disposed will be discussed.

João G. Crespo - Professor of Chemical Engineering at the Faculty of Sciences and Technology - Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Portugal. Director of the Laboratory of Membrane Processes at iBET. Former Vice-Rector for Research and Innovation and former Coordinator of NOVA Doctoral School. Former Vice-President of Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (Portuguese National Science Foundation) and former Academic Dean of the Faculty of Sciences and Technology at NOVA. Member of the editorial board of “Journal of Membrane Science”, “Journal of Biotechnology”, “Desalination and Water Treatment” and “Membranes”. International expert of the “Commission des Titres d'Ingénieur”, France. Editor of 2 books in the domains of Membrane Science and Engineering, and of Sustainable Separation Processes, author of 23 book chapters and more than 250 publications referred in Scopus. Founder of the spin-off company “Zeyton Nutraceuticals”.