Research Abstracts

The idea to generate power through osmosis between river and ocean water has been known since the 1970s. The potential power that can be produced worldwide through osmotic power is estimated to be 1600 TWh/a. But due to inefficient membranes, little effort has been put into research for this type of

Integration of membrane technology into a new method for a recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) was investigated. Main objectives were: at first to reduce the water consumption, but not to exceed the critical concentrations for fish toxic water ingredients (especially nitrite and ammonium or ammon

Based on the hypothesis that ionic liquids should show a similar behaviour as surfactants in membrane filtration, this research work analyses the potential of aggregation control to improve the performance of downstream membrane separations, applied to the system 3-octyl-1-methylimidazolium chloride

Galactosyl-oligosaccharides (GOS) are non-digestible oligosaccharides which are qualified as functional foods. GOS are enzymatically synthesized from lactose by transgalactosylation catalyzed by the enzyme β-galactosidase. In this study, a method for immobilization of β-galactosidase from Kluyveromy

Micro/sub-micron emulsion and related systems have received a lot of attention in the last years for their common use as vehicles for topical administration. These systems can be defined as fine emulsion dispersion with droplet sizes in the sub-micron range. The main advantages of such systems are h

Pervaporation, a membrane technology requiring low energetic demands, is considered to substitute the conventional distillation unit employed in the beverage industry in order to recover the key aroma compounds, and that would avoid the damages to the quality of the flavour profile. The analysis of

Hybrid-pervaporation-distillation processes have been intensely studied in the last years and considered as a good alternative in the separation of homogeneous azeotropic mixtures. Compared with the techniques in use in the chemical industry, they can reduce the energy consumption and avoid the use

Microfiltration of yeast suspensions (Sacch. cerevisiae) was carried out to investigate the impact of a secondary membrane, composed of deposited yeast cells, on the filtration performance. Cross-flow filtration experiments with yeast–water suspensions in a rectangular channel showed the deposition

Coal mines are emitting off-gases containing methane of varying content. For environmental as well as economical reasons the gas should be collected and put to further use, i.e., as a feed stock for gas engines or fuel cells. Certain concentration ranges of the coal mine gas require an adjustment of

In the last years, increasing attention has been paid on the presence of POPs in water. It has been found that wastewaters and wastewater treatment plant effluents are the main source of surface and ground water pollution. Therefore, it seems important to improve the removal efficiency of such compo