Год издания: 2024
Аннотация: The last few years have seemed to test our strength. The recent coronavirus pandemic disrupted all our plans, postponed the dates of our conferences and significantly changed our lives. Part of conference activities moved to an online format. The change in the international situation has complicated the interaction of Russian scienПоказать полностьюtists with foreign colleagues and has significantly reduced the number of available international conferences. But we want to believe that we have successfully passed these tests. Our 48 conference is again taking place not only at the end of May, but also exactly a year after the previous one. And our foreign colleagues are again taking part in it, and the on-line format makes it possible for a large number of wonderful scientists to join us. But it's even more pleasing that many of them expressed a desire to come again to the Kuban region that has become our second native land. It is worth noting that science changes along with our lives. An analysis of the conference program shows that it reflects all the main modern vectors of development of membrane science and membrane technology. The tasks are dictated by the pressing problems of humanity and the logic of the development of science itself. The most important challenge is reducing human impact on the environment, primarily in terms of achieving carbon neutrality and comprehensive wastewater recycling. Membrane technologies are entering deeper and deeper into these areas, helping to solve the problem in different directions. An increasing number of reports are devoted to the problems of alternative energy: the development of renewable energy sources, as well as energy storage devices, such as metal-ion batteries and flow batteries. New approaches have emerged related to the production of hydrogen from biomass and its products, the development of microbial fuel cells, and the production of energy using reverse electrodialysis. It is pleasant to note that new membranes and membrane technologies are among the most demanded innovations in these areas. Water electrolysis with ion-exchange membranes is considered as the main method for producing “green” hydrogen. Another important direction is the use of wastewater as a source of mining. Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) systems have been developed and used for quite some time. The application of membrane processes in these systems makes it possible to obtain pure water and a very concentrated salt solution from wastewater (e.g. mine water); the latter can be processed by conventional crystallization and evaporation processes to get dry salt. However, new achievements in membrane design, primarily, the development of monovalent-ion-selective (ion-exchange) membranes and their use in Selective Electrodialysis (or Selectrodialysis, SED) open up the possibility to produce not a mixture of dry salt, as in conventional ZLD systems, but individual dry salts, which can replace the salts extracted by traditional methods. Much attention is being given to the development of this method for extracting phosphates and other nutrients from wastewater as a way to produce fertilizers. Note that monovalent-ion-selective membranes belong to the class of multilayer membranes. The variety of possible applications of such membranes, including bipolar membranes, always attracts the attention of researchers and engineers. At the same time, it is worth noting that the use of wastewater for hydrogen production and direct energy generation using bio- and electromembrane technologies are also in focus of attention of researchers. Of considerable interest are works on the development of electro-baromembrane methods for ion separation, when two driving forces, a potential difference and a pressure difference, are simultaneously applied to a membrane (for example, a track-etched membrane). Ions are separated due to the difference in the ion electromigration velocity and ion convection velocity. The occurrence of two driving forcessignificantly increases the number of degrees of freedom for solving separation problems. All of the above topics are touched upon in one way or another in the oral and poster presentations of the participants of the current conference. However, classical fundamental questions are not left aside either: how do ions and water molecules move in membranes and near-membrane solution? What are the mechanisms of concentration polarization and how to govern this phenomenon? Is it possible to control electroconvection and prevent some catastrophe at the micrometer level? Is it possible to change the charge on the pore walls by changing the potential difference across the membrane? We believe that the conference will provide a number of useful answers and raise exciting questions that will stimulate the further development of membrane science and technology for the benefit of all inhabitants of our planet.
Место издания: Krasnodar