Reverse osmosis history

Glater, Julius, "The Early History of Reverse Osmosis Membrane Development," Desalination, 117 (1998). 

The development of membranes for gas separations has been closely linked to that for water desalination. Therefore, a short review of the history of reverse osmosis membranes Is first given, followed by a presentation of the milestones leading to today s commercial, asymmetric membranes for gas separations. 

The latest major innovation, and also economically the most successful breakthrough, was achieved by Henis and Tripodl (34-38) with their invention of the resistance model (RM) fiber membranes in late 1979. In agreement with the history of reverse osmosis membrane development, they selected a high-strength, glassy polymer as membrane material, such as polysulfone with a glass transition... 

The history of the membrane developments for reverse osmosis and gas permeation shows that because of inherent differences, it is not possible to simply apply the techniques and materials from one separation technology to the other. The success of the resistance-model hollow-fiber technology which is based on the glassy-fiber technology invented for reverse osmosis, demonstrates the necessity to search for advanced techniques to prepare more selective membranes free of imperfections, rather than to look for new, unavailable materials. 

Dr. Sourirajan has had much to do with my success and to the success of our technology. I feel that a short history of one of those successes would be a fitting tribute to this man who has lived "reverse osmosis" for the last 2h years of his life. 

It is important to note that reverse osmosis (with which the whole history of membrane separations began, just 45 years ago) and nanofiltration are not filtration processes in the normally accepted sense of the word, i.e. a separation of fluid horn suspended solid particles or liquid droplets whereby the fluid passes without change of phase through a barrier by means of pores that are continuous from one side of the barrier to the other, and whose size is such as to hold back the particles of droplets. 

J. Glater, The early history of reverse osmosis membrane development. Desalination, 117 (1998) 297-309. 

IP is one of the techniques used for preparing composite membranes, normally for the production of NF and reverse osmosis (RO) membrane. Historically, thin-film composite membrane prepared by IP was developed in order to overcome the limitations and the problems encountered by an asymmetric membrane constructed by the phase inversion method (Rao et al. 1997). IP was a breakthrough in the history of membrane technology and was developed by Cadotte at the North Star Research Institute for RO applications (Pinnau and Freeman 2000). It is based on the polymerization that occurs between two reactive monomers at the interface of two immiscible solvents an aqueous phase and an organic solvent such as hexane, as shown in Figure 5.1. 

Many other national and international companies, some with extensive expert in liquid separations as well as others with primarily chemical and p rochemical histories, are either closely monitoring the field or actively engag in research aimed at tapping its exciting potential for growth. An interesting alternative approach to membrane formation has b the basis for reverse osmosis membranes marlreted by Film Tech, UOP, and Albany International. These composite membranes are essentially the trrinor images of the Monsanto composites. 

Biain, R. M., Adamson, W. L., and Weber, B., Corrosion Coupon in Natural Waters A Case History Dealing with Reverse Osmosis Desalination of Seawater, Corrosion Testing in Natural Waters Second Volume. ASTM STP 1300,1997, pp. 122-142. 

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