総説（Review Article）：膜（MEMBRANE），41（6），287-296（2016）●特集AMS10 回記念特別セッション

Membrane Science and Membrane Engineeringin the past years and tomorrow
Enrico Drioli 1, 2, 3, 4)＊ and Elena Tocci 1)
1) Institute on Membrane Technology, ITM-CNR
Via P. Bucci 17/C, Rende (CS), 87036, Italy2) Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials, University of Calabria
Via P. Bucci 42/A, Rende (CS), 87036, Italy3) WCU Department of Energy Engineering, College of Engineering, Hanyang UniversitySeoul, 133-791, Korea
4) Center of Excellence in Desalination Technology, King Abdulaziz UniversityJeddah, Saudi Arabia

The worldwide recognized role of Membrane Science and Membrane Engineering is today well documented by
the significant growth in the Scientific organizations and Scientific Networks created in the years in all the Continents
and in most of the Industrialized Countries. In the late 70ies and early 80ties the Membrane Society of Japan and theEuropean Membrane Society were the only existing organizations. Today we have more than 10 Membrane
Societies and new ones are under construction. The Journal of Membrane Science created by Harry Lonsdale in the70ies, is today still the most representative but in a field where 9–10 new other Journals are already present. It isimpressive the number of events organized yearly worldwide devoted to our field. Efforts for more high education inmembrane science and engineering in the traditional curricula for Masters and PhD has to be promoted as multinational large scale research projects in areas of strategic importance as water stress, global warming, energy production, raw materials depletion, artificial hybrid organs, neurosciences, technical textile, etc. The central role ofMembrane Science and Engineering for the industrial sustainable growth has to be recognized.
Keywords : membrane society history ／ international membrane conference

Membrane Science and Membrane Engineering
today represent one of the most visible research area
together with innovative operations, in a large varietyof industrial, medical and biotechnological sectors.
The story of Membrane Engineering is relativelyrecent. The first never organized international scientific meeting on Membranes with emphasis on industrial
application and potentialities and not just on biologicalmembranes, was organized at Villa Cimbrone in
Ravello (Italy) in 1966 as a NATO Advanced Study
Institute (ASI) on Membrane Transport Phenomena byProf. Harry Gregor (from NY) and Prof. Alfonso M.

＊ Corresponding Author
E-mail: e.drioli@itm.cnr.it

Liquori (from Naples). At that time Reverse Osmosis(RO) membranes, invented by Sidney Loeb andSrinivasa Sourirajan, were just starting their successful
applications, and their transport properties and potentialities in desalination was, in fact, one of the major
topic discussed at the 1966 NATO ASI. All the mostrespected Scientists active on transport phenomena in
artificial and biological membranes were present, probably for the first time, with Professors of ChemicalEngineering, with Researchers in molecular separations, with Experts in polymer chemistry, etc., in anexciting multidisciplinary meeting having already all
the characteristic of the future Membrane Science andMembrane Engineering.
No organized Scientific Society were existing at
National and International level at that time. However,288

Drioli, Tocci ： Membrane Science and Membrane Engineering in the past years and tomorrow

Fig. 2Fig. 1 Editorial Committee of Membrane.

a fast growing interest for membrane operation wasalready attracting scientific and industrial attention invarious Countries and specifically in Japan, whereElectro Dialysis (ED), in particular, and RO were utilized for the production of NaCl from the sea for thechlorosoda process, and for ultrapure water for electronic industry.
In 1978 the first Membrane Society was created inJapan as The Membrane Society of Japan (MSJ). The
President of MSJ at that time was Prof. Masayuki
Nakagaki and the Vice Presidents were Prof.
Terukatsu Miyauchi and Prof. Toshitsugu Oda.
It is interesting to emphasize the multidisciplinarity
character of MSJ from the very early stage, as still
today confirmed by the members of the Editorial
Board of MAKU, the official journal of The Membrane
Society of Japan, in which representatives from industrial groups, such as Mitsubishi Rayon, Toyobo, Toray,etc., from Chemical Engineering Academic Departments, from Medical and Pharmaceutical Faculties,etc., are all working together.
Also in Europe, a growing attention to Membranea) Picture of the Stresa Conference in 1984 andb) Proceedings of the Conference.

Science and Technology was evident. Following the1966 first Conference, a second Ravello Conference onMembranes was organized in 1977, in the same beautiful Villa Cimbrone environment.
My self (Enrico Drioli) with Prof. Harold Hoffenberg
from North Carolina State University in Raleigh, wereserving as Chairmen. In 1988 and in 1999 similar
events took place in Ravello attracting a selected invited group of scientists from all over the world, creating
the first core group of a Membrane InternationalFamily.
The success and growing interest for Membrane
Science and for all events related to this new scientifictopic suggested trying to better organize at European
level, the scientific efforts of researchers interested inthis field.
In collaboration with few colleagues, F. Aptel from
Univ. Sabatier – France, H. Strathmann from Tubingen– Germany, G. Tragardh from Lund Institute ofTechnology–Food Engineering – Sweden, the possibility to organize an European Membrane Society (at thetime EMST) received a strong positive reply.
In 1982, the European Membrane Society (EMS)
was created with the following status, “the overall goalof the Society is to:1) promote co–operation between European Scientists
and Engineers involved in research and development in the field of synthetic and artificial membranes and membrane processes;
2) organize periodic workshops and study groups on
various aspect of membrane science;3) publicate a quarterly newsletter describing developments and activities of different membrane groups;
4) stimulate exchange visits of membrane scientists
and technologists in different countries;5) delivery guidelines to national and international
agencies to promote the most efficient use of

MEMBRANE，Vol. 41 No. 6（2016）

289

Table 1 Major Membrane Societies today

resources.”
Having internationalization as one of the high priority actions of the Society, Prof. Drioli, President of EMS
and Prof. Nakagaki, President of The Membrane
Society of Japan had meetings in Tokyo for discussing
the collaboration between the two Societies and thedecision of organizing the first Euro – Japan Conference in Italy was taken. In 1984 the Europe – Japan
Congress on Membranes and Membrane Processes
was held in Stresa, on June 18–22.
Following the success of this event, due to a large
number of participants, of about 400, from 26 Countries
including USA, Australia, China and Brazil and considering the quality of the Plenary Lectures and Scientific

Communications, the outcome was the decision toorganize the Japan – Europe Congress on Membranes
and Membrane Processes in Tokyo, in 1987.
In the meantime, Prof. Elias Klein, a USA participant
at the Stresa Conference, going back to USA organizeda meeting where the most representative scientists
active in Membrane Science in USA and Prof. E. Drioli
were invited.
Prof. E. Klein described the activities of the MSJ of
Japan and of EMS in Europe.
The proposal of Prof. Klein of founding the North
American Membrane Society, NAMS, was very welland unanimously accepted. After this event, thePresidents of MSJ and EMS were in agreement to290

Drioli, Tocci ： Membrane Science and Membrane Engineering in the past years and tomorrow

Table 2 ICOM Conferences

redesign the Japan – Europe Congress, scheduled inTokyo in 1987, as an International Congress (ICOM)

having also the NAMS as member of organizing committee. The successful story of the InternationalMEMBRANE，Vol. 41 No. 6（2016）

Table 3Major Conferences in Membrane Science andTechnology

Congress on Membranes and Membrane Processes,
the ICOM Conferences (still today the most representative of scientific membrane conferences) started atthat time.
In parallel, another important action that was realized promoted by EMS, was the creation of Summer
Schools all around Europe. Due to the difficulties ofstudents from East Countries to travel to the West, invarious occasions, Summer Schools were also organized in Poland, Russia (Soviet Union at that time),
Hungary, etc.
The situation of the organized Membrane Societiestoday is very different from 80ties. In the Table 1 a listof major existing Membrane Societies, from theAustralasia, to the coming Chinese and the youngest
African, is presented.
All of them are quite active, promoting International
Conferences and trying to create strong links between
their members.
In parallel to the growth of the Societies, a significant
number of Scientific Conferences and Exhibitions, hasbeen established annually, biannually, triannually.
In Table 2, the list of different ICOM conferences,following the one in Tokyo in 1987, is reported.
In Table 3, a list of the other major Membrane Conferences and Workshops is shown.
In the early 70ies, scientific magazines devoted tomembrane science were not existing. Dr. HarryLonsdale in 1976 created the first journal in the field,
Journal of Membrane Science (JMS) published byElsevier. H. Lonsdale made an excellent creative291

action in promoting the growth of this journal, today
the most representative scientific Journal in theMembrane World. The JMS, publishing initially 10 –15 manuscripts per volume, it is characterized, today,
by an IF: 5.557 and receives thousands of submissions
per years. NAMS, EMS, Aseanian MembraneSocieties are today formally sponsoring this Journal.
However, various other International Journals havebeen created in the years. The majors are in Table 4
together with a large number of newsletters andreports with updates all around the world in Membrane
Science and Membrane Engineering.
The necessity to promote more high educational
activities at Academia level in Membrane Science andMembrane Engineering has been well recognized in
the past years.
The European Union in 2010 approved the project ofan Erasmus Mundus Doctorate in Membrane
Engineering (EUDIME). The program provided theexcellent opportunity to motivated, talented and competent scholars across the Europe and developing
countries to pursue their research in some leading
European Institutes working in Membrane field(eudime.unical.it)
The success of this project, coordinated by Prof. E.
Drioli – University of Calabria and involving sevenother European Universities, University of Twente(The Netherlands), Institute of Chemical Technology
Prague (Czech Republic), University of Leuven(Belgium), University of Montpellier 2 and University
Paul Sabatier–Toulouse (France), and ten associatepartners from Academia and Industry, is well documented by the numbers of applicants in the various
annual calls (see Table 5).
A similar relevant initiative was realized for an
Erasmus Master Program in Membrane Engineering
coordinated by Prof. A. Ayral, at the University ofMontpellier (www.em3e-4sw.eu/em3e/em3e-home).
In parallel to these activities, significant successes
were reached in the production at industrial level on
Membrane modules and Membrane Operations.
In particular, pressure driven membrane operations(RO, UF, NF, MF) became dominant technologies indesalination, in waste water treatments and waterreuse and also in a large variety of industrial sectors.
Membrane systems are largely present in the foodand beverage, dairy, textile industries and in electronics, automobile, petrochemical productions etc.

292

Drioli, Tocci ： Membrane Science and Membrane Engineering in the past years and tomorrow

Table 4

Major Journals, Newsletters and Reports published on Membrane Science andMembrane Engineering

Table 5

Total number of applicants, their nationalities and number of selected candidates for each EUDIME edition

It is interesting to mention the progresses in desalination, where the so–called third generation desalination systems are involved in fresh water production
integrated, however, with energy production and row
material extraction and reuse from the brine of RO andNF operations.

The strategy of integrated membrane systems is
becoming largely and successfully accepted today in avariety of industrial productions.
The MEDINA research project in Europe (cordis.
europa.eu/project/rcn/81392_en.html and E. Drioli, A.
Criscuoli, and F. Macedonio, eds. Membrane–based

MEMBRANE，Vol. 41 No. 6（2016）

293

Fig. 3The Jiangsu Membrane Industrial Park, in Nanjing. a) – b) Pictures, c) Operational framework of the Membrane Scienceand Technology Industrial Park, d) Technologies developed in the Membrane Industrial Park.

Fig. 4

The Weihai Membrane Technology Center. a) Picture, b) Activities related to the membrane technology center andmembrane production base.

Desalination: An Integrated Approach (MEDINA). Iwa
Publishing, 2011), MEGATON in Japan (www.megatonwater.com/en/research.html) and SEAHERO inKorea (www.seahero.org/), are the best examples ofthese innovative strategies, today present also in theMiddle East as evidenced by the Masdar program fordesalination (www.masdar.ae/en/energy/detail/renewable-energy-water-desalination-in-uae).
A novel and significant approach to promote thedevelopment of Membrane Science and Technology isthe recent creation of Membrane Science andTechnology Industrial Parks, sponsored by theChinese Government. In Fig. 3 a) – d) are summarized
the activities of the already existing Jiangsu Membrane
Science and Technology Industrial Park.
In Fig. 4 are shown the activities of the Membrane
Technology Center supported by the Weihai Municipal
Government in Shandong Province, and today in real-294

Drioli, Tocci ： Membrane Science and Membrane Engineering in the past years and tomorrow

Table 6 Strategic topics to be promoted

Fig. 5Blue energy and energy resources distribution. a) BP: Statistical review 2011, b) Recalculated considering blue energy (J.W. Post, PhD thesis, Wageningen University, Wageningen TheNetherlands (2009)).

ization.
A strong International character and a multidisciplinary approach are present and recognized necessary
for the success of these initiatives.
The central role of Membrane Science and Engineering for an Industrial Sustainable Growth is more andmore well recognized and promoted worldwide.
Following the Process Intensification strategy, thebasic properties of modern Process Engineering related to Membrane Engineering, are:a) a strong fundamental multidisciplinary characterfrom Chemical Engineering and Material Science
Engineering to Biotechnology, Biology, Tissue
Engineering, etc.
b) the largest spectrum of realized and potential application in practically all Industrial Sectors and in

Agriculture, Medicine, Space Technologies, etc.
Some of the actions to be promoted for realizing acontinuously successful future growth of Membrane
Science and Engineering, will be the creation of:
1. A Global Membrane Network,
2. Large scale multinational projects on strategic matters,
3. International Doctorates in Membrane Engineering(following the Erasmus Mundus Doctorate inMembrane Engineering, EUDIME).
Example of ambitious strategic topics to be developed by the Membrane Researchers might be the ones
listed in Table 6.
The creation of a Global Membrane Network will
facilitate to obtain further positive follow out in the vari-

MEMBRANE，Vol. 41 No. 6（2016）

Fig. 6295

Neuronal network construct in a membrane system. a) Micropatterned PLLA membranes
for guidance of neuronal cells (S. Morelli, S. Salerno, A. Piscioneri, B.J. Papenburg, A. Di
Vito, G. Giusi, M. Canonaco, D. Stamatialis, E. Drioli, L. De Bartolo Biomaterials 2010, 31:
7000–7011, Adapted with permission from Elsevier), b) Human mesenchymal stem cells in acompartmentalized neuronal membrane system (A. Piscioneri, S. Morelli, M. Mele, M.
Canonaco, E. Bilotta, P. Pantano, E. Drioli, L. De Bartolo Acta Biomaterialia 2015; 24: 297308, Adapted with permission from Elsevier).

Fig. 7ous topics indicated. It will not be easy, however. In
the blue energy area the visibility of the membrane
operations (Pressure retarded osmosis (PRO) andMembrane systems in the space.ESA astronaut
Andreas Mogensen’s 10–day ‘iriss’ mission to theInternational Space Station includes the scientificexperiment to purify some of the Station’s waste
water and test a ‘biomimetic’ membrane fromDenmark. The membrane mimics nature to createclean drinking water using a nano–technology that
requires no energy.
ESA is gratefully acknowledged: www.esa.int/Our_Activities/ Human_Spaceflight/ iriss/Highlights/
Andreas_in_space.

Reverse electrodialysis (RED)) in the recent years has
been very modest, as evidenced in the Fig. 5 a) in frontof a potential contribution of blue energy of about 17 %as shown in Fig. 5 b).
In regenerative medicine and in the study of hybrid
artificial organs as artificial brain (Fig. 6), in the space296

Drioli, Tocci ： Membrane Science and Membrane Engineering in the past years and tomorrow

Table 7 Thermal conductivity 1

1E. Drioli, A. Gugliuzza, A. Politano Composite graphene and beyond graphene membranes, Korea–Italy Bilateral Symposium on

Beyond Graphene, Hanyang University, Korea, May 27th 2016

research activities (Fig. 7) as in a new Mining Industry,
having the sea as an open-sky mine, important resultsmight be reached by a strong International Team promoted by Membrane Associations.
The interest today for 2D material as graphene andbeyond graphene, with their quite interesting characteristics, as the thermal conductivity (Table 7), mightoffer the opportunity of production of new class ofmembranes for various operations able to overcome
the limits of the membrane and modules realized until
now.
Very impressive and positive progresses have been
done in the last thirty – forty years, but the impact ofMembrane Science and Membrane Engineering in our
modern society is just at its beginning.
(Received 15 August 2016 ;Accepted 2 September 2016)
Enrico Drioli is Emeritus Professor
at the University of Calabria, Italy;
Distinguish Visiting Professor at theDepartment of Energy Engineeringof Hanyang University, Seoul Korea;
Distinguish Adjunct Professor at theKing Abdulaziz University, Jeddah;
Honorary Founding Director of Institute on Membrane Technology(ITM–CNR), Honorary President ofEuropean Membrane Society; Coordinator of Erasmus Mundus Docto-rate in Membrane Engineering(EUDIME). He has received various scientific international awards,
including “Richard Maling BarrerPrize” of the European Membrane
Society and Semenov medal fromRussian Academy of EngineeringScience, etc.. Author of about 800
scientific papers and 18 scientificbooks in the field of Membrane
Science and Membrane Engineering.
Elena Tocci is currently a researcher at the Institute on Membrane
Technology of the National Research Council (ITM–CNR), Rende,Italy. She earned her Ph.D. in Chemical and new materials technologies at the University of Calabria,
Italy, in 2000. She is expert in computational chemistry applied tomembrane and membrane processes: molecular dynamics and Monte
Carlo simulations of transport properties of gases and vapors in dense
amorphous glassy membranes,modelling of morphological properties of amorphous glassy membranes and in high free volume polymers, mesoscale modeling of nanostructured polymeric materials.