Characterization of Ultra and Nanofiltration Commercial Filters by Liquid-Liquid Displacement Porosimetry

Doctoral Thesis / Dissertation from the year 2013 in the subject Engineering - Chemical Engineering, grade: "0", Universidad de Valladolid, language: English, comment: Esta tesis esta presentada por D. Ren Israel Peinador Dvila, alumno del programa de Doctorado en Fsica, impartido por el departamento de Fsica Aplicada, Considero que dicha tesis recoge el trabajo realizado por el interesado a lo largo de varios aos, conteniendo aspectos novedosos de investigacin sobre la tcnica de desplazamiento de fluidos, aplicada a membranas sintticas, que la hacen merecedora de su defensa y aprobacin.(Dr.Jos I.Calvo Dez, Valladolid, 15 de Mayo de 2013) , abstract: Membrane Technology applied, among others, in processes such as Ultrafiltration (UF) and Nanofiltration (NF), has become an important part of biotechnological separation processes in recent decades. Its main feature, the morphology of the porous filters, leading to a "sieving mechanism" allows effective separation with high selectivity features and made in energy and environmental conditions very interesting.

Given the enormous development of membrane filters, it becomes necessary the growth in parallel of characterization techniques applied to such filters, as essential tools for both manufacturers and end-users or researchers.

In this sense we need to know most exactly possible, both functional and structural parameters of the membrane, all necessary for a proper choice of that with a view to a particular application.

The question we must face is: Is there a characterization method, by itself, giving us a clear and easily interpretable picture of the true structure and functionality of the filter?.

The answer to this question is obviously no. There are so many structural and functional parameters that contribute to the exact knowledge of the membrane, that there is no technique that can bring us all this wealth of information.

From the industrial and commercial standpoints, th