As scientists have continued to improve reverse osmosis (RO) membrane technology, the breadth of application continues to expand.  Central to this has been development real world RO system thermodynamic models  and then the targeting of practical membrane synthesis to improve desired properties.  However, our scientific understanding is far from complete.  Transport models based on a firm knowledge of the detailed morphological and functional group contributions are as yet not available. As a result, practical membranes utilize a relatively narrow group of polymer backbones.  This is the challenge for the next 3-5 years.  How to design new materials?  During this talk, we'll lay out some of the major application challenges, the state of the art in system thermodynamics and membrane synthesis while also suggesting a path forward to advance the state of the art in understanding membrane transport.

Transport and material science needs of the future for reverse osmosis membrane technology

248th National Meeting (2014)

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