Current Synthetic and Systems Biology
Open Access

Synthetic Membranes

An artificial membrane, or synthetic membrane, is a synthetically created membrane which is usually intended for separation purposes in laboratory or in industry. Synthetic membranes have been successfully used for small and large-scale industrial processes since the middle of twentieth century.[1] A wide variety of synthetic membranes is known.[2] They can be produced from organic materials such as polymers and liquids, as well as inorganic materials. The most of commercially utilized synthetic membranes in separation industry are made of polymeric structures. They can be classified based on their surface chemistry, bulk structure, morphology, and production method. The chemical and physical properties of synthetic membranes and separated particles as well as a choice of driving force define a particular membrane separation process. The most commonly used driving forces of a membrane process in industry are pressure and concentration gradients. The respective membrane process is therefore known as filtration. Synthetic membranes utilized in a separation process can be of different geometry and of respective flow configuration. They can also be categorized based on their application and separation regime.[2] The best known synthetic membrane separation processes include water purification, reverse osmosis, dehydrogenation of natural gas, removal of cell particles by microfiltration and ultrafiltration, removal of microorganisms from dairy products, and Dialysis.