The Achille's Heel of Membrane Technology for Biotechnology: Membrane Fouling
Tuesday, July 21, 2009 2-3 PM EDT
Georges Belfort, Russell Sage Endowed Professor of Chemical Engineering, Howard P. Isermann Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Download the slides and Q&A here.
About this Webinar
In this overview, we will address some recent key theoretical and experimental discoveries and developments that form the foundation of membrane fouling in pressure-driven synthetic membrane processes. Membrane processes have two major limitations; lack of a theoretical formalism that can predict industrial filtration performance and the inherent problem of membrane fouling. Both of these limitations will be addressed here in detail with examples from the Belfort lab and others. In silico methods can be used to describe membrane filtration of suspensions. With respect to mitigating membrane fouling, biological, chemical and fluid mechanical approaches have been used to address these complex problems. Recent developments have involved process methodology, membrane design with selectivity improvements. Recent technical developments and process operation will be discussed in light of major challenges facing the biotech industry. Future needs will also be addressed.
About Georges Belfort
Georges Belfort is one of the premier academic scientists/engineers in the field of bioseparations engineering and is a leading academic chemical engineer in liquid-phase pressure-driven membrane-based processes. He has made seminal wide-ranging fundamental and applied research contributions to the understanding, design and application of pressure-driven membrane processes for the recovery of biological molecules.
A native of South Africa, Professor Belfort joined the Rensselaer faculty in 1978 after a one-year sabbatical leave at Northwestern University and spending four years on the faculty of the School of Applied Science, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel. Dr. Belfort received his Ph.D. degree in 1972 and his M.S. degree in 1969 from the University of California at Irvine in engineering, and his B.Sc. (Chemical Engineering) in 1963 from the University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa.
He received the 1995 ACS Award in Separation Science and Technology, the 2000 AIChE Clarence Gerhold Award in Separations Science and Technology, served as President of the North American Membrane Society (1995-196), was elected to the US National Academy of Engineering in 2003, and serves on the editorial boards of four journals. He was elected a fellow of the American Institute for Medical & Biological Engineering in 1994.