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Handbook of industrial membrane technology
301
Handbook of Industrzal Membrane Technology, Mark Porter (Ed. ), Noyes Pubhcations, Mill Road at Grand Air, Park Ridge, NJ 07656 (U.S.A.), ISBN O-8155-1205-8,1989, pp. 605, US$96. Mark Porter’s new handbook is packed with background and information about industrial membrane separations, and the membranes that make them possible. Fourteen distmguished authors have contributed ten sections on topics such as membrane preparation, UF, MF, RO, ED, gas separations, thin film composite membranes, process design, bioreactors, and coupled transport This book is an excellent general reference for non-specialists, and a good handbook for those who want to check the industrial implications of something outside their area of expertise. In the opening section, “Synthetic Membranes and Their Preparation,” Strathmann does his usual excellent job in explaining both the rudiments and some of the subtleties of the topic. Don’t expect to learn how to roll a spiral element from this section, but you will find most everything else. Porter’s sections on MF and UF are quite good Porter’s long association with these topics shows to advantage. MF is a huge topic, with a market size larger than everything else covered in the handbook combined, yet one that’s hard to get a grip on. This effort is the best try I’ve seen. The UF section is similarly good. I liked particularly the lucid exposition on the generally misunderstood “molecular weight cutoff’ as but one good example of his clear writing. In spite of the overall high quality of the UF and MF sections, they exemplify the major defect of the entire book - they’re dated Porter wrote some excellent articles in the 70’s on potential applications for UF, which are quoted as if they have happened or soon will. They didn’t and won’t. And where has this book been for the past five years? All of the sections were obviously written m middecade. Rautenbach’s section on process design ISanother excellent addition to this volume, but it suffers from an overemphasis on concerns no longer of major interest at the expense of processes that are currently important. This section is also edited in a way which is not consistent with the rest of the volume, which some readers will find distracting. Sudak’s serviceable section on RO is supplemented by Petersen and Cadotte’s section on thin film composites, a felicitous complement. Drioli, Iorio, and Catapano may tell you more about enzyme reactors than you can use, but if you need it, it’s probably there. Davis’ treatment of ED is well done, as is the Baker and Blume section on coupled transport. Fritzsche and Kurz’ otherwise good contribution on gas separation membranes suffers from the long mterval between its preparation and publication.
302
The volume deserves good marks for selection and organization. The authors generally succeed in giving logical, well reasoned and correct expositions of their craft. As in any book of this length, there are errors and omissions aplenty my list is long, but the errors aren’t fatal. One characteristic of the handbook that may trouble some readers is that the authors seldom used one word when ten would suffice, adding substance to the book that will be obvious to anyone who picks it up. WILLIAM EYKAMP Collegeof Engrneermg Unwersdy of Cahfornra Berkeley, CA, US A
Advances m Membrane Phenomena and Processes, Lecture Text-Book of the ESMST Summer School held at Gdansk-Sobiesxewo, Wroclaw, Poland, June 6-12,1988, Alicja M. Mlka and Tomasz Z Winnicki (Eds ), Wroclaw Technical University Press, pl. Grunwaldzki 9,50-377 Wroclaw, Poland, 294 pp , U.S.$54.20. It is perhaps the first time that such a text-book has been brought out without an american author! The text-book deals effectively with a wide spectrum of membrane phenomena and practicing of the resulting separation processes. Alicja M. Mika and Tomasz Z. Wmnicki deserve appreciation for editing a variety of subjects in a systematic and logical manner so that every article (although formerly a lecture) is interconnected and ultimately the compiled volume represents a text-book complete in its sense. The total of seventeen lectures can be divided into two sections: fundamental aspects of membrane science and practical applications of membrane engineering and technology. The total of 17 articles are coauthored by 23 membranologists from 11 countries of Europe and Asia. The articles deal with subjects like thermodynamics, transport, interfacial phenomena, structureproperty relationship, food, biotechnology, medical, design and economics concerning membrane technology. It would be worth citing a few lecture-notes. Basic transport phenomena in membranes, both on the macroscopic and mlcroscopic scale, are discussed in depth by J.H. Petropoulos. Fundamental aspects concerning gas permeability as described by Yu. P. Yampolskii, solidliquid mixtures as described by V.P. Zhemkov and V.S. Soldatov, liquid membrane theory as described by S. Schlosser and blotechnological applications as reviewed by G. Iorio deal in detail with the major membrane areas. As with other technologies, it is obvious that the meaningful and realistic usage of the membrane technology, as emphasised by M.H. Mehta, depends not only on
Handbook of Industrzal Membrane Technology, Mark Porter (Ed. ), Noyes Pubhcations, Mill Road at Grand Air, Park Ridge, NJ 07656 (U.S.A.), ISBN O-8155-1205-8,1989, pp. 605, US$96. Mark Porter’s new handbook is packed with background and information about industrial membrane separations, and the membranes that make them possible. Fourteen distmguished authors have contributed ten sections on topics such as membrane preparation, UF, MF, RO, ED, gas separations, thin film composite membranes, process design, bioreactors, and coupled transport This book is an excellent general reference for non-specialists, and a good handbook for those who want to check the industrial implications of something outside their area of expertise. In the opening section, “Synthetic Membranes and Their Preparation,” Strathmann does his usual excellent job in explaining both the rudiments and some of the subtleties of the topic. Don’t expect to learn how to roll a spiral element from this section, but you will find most everything else. Porter’s sections on MF and UF are quite good Porter’s long association with these topics shows to advantage. MF is a huge topic, with a market size larger than everything else covered in the handbook combined, yet one that’s hard to get a grip on. This effort is the best try I’ve seen. The UF section is similarly good. I liked particularly the lucid exposition on the generally misunderstood “molecular weight cutoff’ as but one good example of his clear writing. In spite of the overall high quality of the UF and MF sections, they exemplify the major defect of the entire book - they’re dated Porter wrote some excellent articles in the 70’s on potential applications for UF, which are quoted as if they have happened or soon will. They didn’t and won’t. And where has this book been for the past five years? All of the sections were obviously written m middecade. Rautenbach’s section on process design ISanother excellent addition to this volume, but it suffers from an overemphasis on concerns no longer of major interest at the expense of processes that are currently important. This section is also edited in a way which is not consistent with the rest of the volume, which some readers will find distracting. Sudak’s serviceable section on RO is supplemented by Petersen and Cadotte’s section on thin film composites, a felicitous complement. Drioli, Iorio, and Catapano may tell you more about enzyme reactors than you can use, but if you need it, it’s probably there. Davis’ treatment of ED is well done, as is the Baker and Blume section on coupled transport. Fritzsche and Kurz’ otherwise good contribution on gas separation membranes suffers from the long mterval between its preparation and publication.
302
The volume deserves good marks for selection and organization. The authors generally succeed in giving logical, well reasoned and correct expositions of their craft. As in any book of this length, there are errors and omissions aplenty my list is long, but the errors aren’t fatal. One characteristic of the handbook that may trouble some readers is that the authors seldom used one word when ten would suffice, adding substance to the book that will be obvious to anyone who picks it up. WILLIAM EYKAMP Collegeof Engrneermg Unwersdy of Cahfornra Berkeley, CA, US A
Advances m Membrane Phenomena and Processes, Lecture Text-Book of the ESMST Summer School held at Gdansk-Sobiesxewo, Wroclaw, Poland, June 6-12,1988, Alicja M. Mlka and Tomasz Z Winnicki (Eds ), Wroclaw Technical University Press, pl. Grunwaldzki 9,50-377 Wroclaw, Poland, 294 pp , U.S.$54.20. It is perhaps the first time that such a text-book has been brought out without an american author! The text-book deals effectively with a wide spectrum of membrane phenomena and practicing of the resulting separation processes. Alicja M. Mika and Tomasz Z. Wmnicki deserve appreciation for editing a variety of subjects in a systematic and logical manner so that every article (although formerly a lecture) is interconnected and ultimately the compiled volume represents a text-book complete in its sense. The total of seventeen lectures can be divided into two sections: fundamental aspects of membrane science and practical applications of membrane engineering and technology. The total of 17 articles are coauthored by 23 membranologists from 11 countries of Europe and Asia. The articles deal with subjects like thermodynamics, transport, interfacial phenomena, structureproperty relationship, food, biotechnology, medical, design and economics concerning membrane technology. It would be worth citing a few lecture-notes. Basic transport phenomena in membranes, both on the macroscopic and mlcroscopic scale, are discussed in depth by J.H. Petropoulos. Fundamental aspects concerning gas permeability as described by Yu. P. Yampolskii, solidliquid mixtures as described by V.P. Zhemkov and V.S. Soldatov, liquid membrane theory as described by S. Schlosser and blotechnological applications as reviewed by G. Iorio deal in detail with the major membrane areas. As with other technologies, it is obvious that the meaningful and realistic usage of the membrane technology, as emphasised by M.H. Mehta, depends not only on