This manual contains necessary and useful information and data in an easily accessible format relating to the use of membranes. Membranes are among the most important engineering components in use today, and each year more and more effective uses for membrane technologies are found - for example: water purification, industrial effluent treatment, solvent dehydration by per-vaporation, recovery of volatile organic compounds, protein recovery, bioseparations and many others.The pace of change in the membrane industry has been accelerating rapidly in recent years, occasioned in part by the demand of end-users, but also as a result of the investment in R&D by manufacturers. To reflect these changes the author has obtained the latest information from some of the leading suppliers in the business. In one complete volume this unique handbook gives practical guidance to using selected membrane processes in individual industries while also providing a useful guide to equipment selection and usage.

Written by an author with over 38 years of experience in the chemical and petrochemical process industry, this handbook will present an analysis of the process steps used to produce industrial hydrocarbons from various raw materials. It is the first book to offer a thorough analysis of external factors effecting production such as: cost, availability and environmental legislation. An A-Z list of raw materials and their properties are presented along with a commentary regarding their cost and availability. Specific processing operations described in the book include: distillation, thermal cracking and coking, catalytic methods, hydroprocesses, thermal and catalytic reforming, isomerization, alkylation processes, polymerization processes, solvent processes, water removal, fractionation and acid gas removal. - Flow diagrams and descriptions of more than 250 leading-edge process technologies - An analysis of chemical reactions and process steps that are required to produce chemicals from various raw materials - Properties, availability and environmental impact of various raw materials used in hydrocarbon processing