Advantages over organic polymeric membranes

Here also, ceramic membranes may have a number of specific advantages over polymeric membranes. Porous ceramics exhibit a nondeformable porous structure, which resists to microbiological attacks and can withstand different reaction media (aqueous, organic, and supercritical fluids). Moreover, ceramic porous media can be reused after elimination of aged biological catalysts followed by a thorough reactor cleaning... 

Membranes can be prepared from both ceramic and polymeric materials. Ceramic materials have several advantages over polymeric materials, such as higher chemical and thermal stability. However, the market share of polymeric membranes is far greater than ceramic membranes as the polymeric materials are easier to process and less expensive. A handful of technical polymers are currently used as membrane materials for 95% of all practical applications [2]. Polymeric materials that are used to prepare separation membranes are mostly organic compounds. A number of different techniques are available to prepare synthetic membranes. 

Carbon membranes have the advantage of being able to operate in environments that are generally prohibitive to polymeric materials, and they have superior stabiUty in presence of organic vapour or solvent and non-oxidizing acid or base environments [11,14,16,17], They are ideal for corrosive applications [18] and are not overly affected by aggressive feeds [6],... 

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