Davey Christopher John, Leak David, Patterson Darrell Alec
Centre for Sustainable Chemical Technologies, University of Bath, Claverton Down, Bath BA2 7AY, UK.
Bath Process Intensification Laboratory, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Bath, Claverton Down, Bath BA2 7AY, UK.
Membranes (Basel). 2016 Feb 29;6(1):17. doi: 10.3390/membranes6010017.
Fermentations provide an alternative to fossil fuels for accessing a number of biofuel and chemical products from a variety of renewable and waste substrates. The recovery of these dilute fermentation products from the broth, however, can be incredibly energy intensive as a distillation process is generally involved and creates a barrier to commercialization. Membrane processes can provide a low energy aid/alternative for recovering these dilute fermentation products and reduce production costs. For these types of separations many current polymeric and inorganic membranes suffer from poor selectivity and high cost respectively. This paper reviews work in the production of novel mixed-matrix membranes (MMMs) for fermentative separations and those applicable to these separations. These membranes combine a trade-off of low-cost and processability of polymer membranes with the high selectivity of inorganic membranes. Work within the fields of nanofiltration, reverse osmosis and pervaporation has been discussed. The review shows that MMMs are currently providing some of the most high-performing membranes for these separations, with three areas for improvement identified: Further characterization and optimization of inorganic phase(s), Greater understanding of the compatibility between the polymer and inorganic phase(s), Improved methods for homogeneously dispersing the inorganic phase.
发酵为从各种可再生和废弃底物中获取多种生物燃料和化学产品提供了一种替代化石燃料的方法。然而，从发酵液中回收这些稀释的发酵产物可能会消耗大量能源，因为通常需要蒸馏过程，这对商业化形成了障碍。膜分离过程可为回收这些稀释的发酵产物提供低能耗的辅助方法或替代方法，并降低生产成本。对于这类分离，目前许多聚合物膜和无机膜分别存在选择性差和成本高的问题。本文综述了用于发酵分离的新型混合基质膜（MMM）的生产以及适用于这些分离的膜的相关研究工作。这些膜将聚合物膜低成本和易加工性的优点与无机膜的高选择性结合起来。文中讨论了纳滤、反渗透和渗透汽化领域的相关工作。综述表明，MMM目前为这些分离提供了一些性能最佳的膜，同时确定了三个有待改进的方面：无机相的进一步表征和优化、对聚合物与无机相之间相容性的更深入理解、无机相均匀分散的改进方法。
