Exploiting barrier interference is the challenge of membrane separation science and technology. This book provides expert knowledge as a survey, in systematic order, of the terms and concepts by which barrier separations operate, and through which practical membrane separation processes are designed. The aim of this book is to present the relevant thermodynamic features of fluid mixtures in contact with semipermeable barriers, then to apply this information in deriving the working principles and design requirements of individual membrane separation processes. The membranes, by this approach, are introduced by way of the mass transport and selectivity demands which they are to meet.

Karl W. Böddeker became Professor at Technical University Hamburg (TUHH) while he already was well known as an expert on desalination and pervaporation in the scientific community, both in EMS and NAMS. He retired from GKSS Research in 2005 but is still active as lecturer at TUHH. He served as an editor for the Journal of Membrane Science and still is an active editor for Membrane News, the quarterly newsletter of the European Membrane Society (EMS).