Presently Available Membranes for Liquid Separation

At present moment, no generally feasible method exists for the large-scale production of optically pure products. Although for the separation of virtually every racemic mixture an analytical method is available (gas chromatography, liquid chromatography or capillary electrophoresis), this is not the case for the separation of racemic mixtures on an industrial scale. The most widely applied method for the separation of racemic mixtures is diastereomeric salt crystallization [1]. However, this usually requires many steps, making the process complicated and inducing considerable losses of valuable product. In order to avoid the problems associated with diastereomeric salt crystallization, membrane-based processes may be considered as a viable alternative. 

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