Industrial state-of-the-art of pervaporation and vapour permeation in the western countries

This work reviews the current trends of industrial pervaporation (PV) and vapour permeation (VP) in Europe and the USA after the great changes that have been occurring since 1995. More than simply being an up-to-date state-of-the-art, the paper provides key data and information about patented applications and current suppliers for PV and VP membranes and membrane separation systems. It also discusses several examples for PV and VP industrial applications and points out many inherent advantages of these separation processes as compared to other more conventional approaches, in particular in terms of very significant savings in energy and raw materials. On the basis of information provided by the leading industrial companies in the field, the past trends and future prospects of PV and VP are eventually analysed to help draw new guidelines for the promotion of these technologies in the near future.