MACROSOLUTE-MICROSOLUTE SEPARATION BY ULTRA-FILTRATION - A REVIEW OF DIAFILTRATION PROCESSES AND APPLICATIONS

For two decades ultrafiltration (UF) has been recognized as a dewatering technique as well as a fractionation process. As a fractionation technique, UF has several advantages over other processes like solvent extraction, chromatography, etc. UF is applied in many different fields such as food processing, biotechnology, pulp and the paper industry where it is used to carry out fractionation. In practice, UF fractionation can be fine-tuned for a specific task depending on the treatment required, the quantity of mixture to be processed, etc. This paper covers (1) a brief introduction to UF membrane selectivity; (2) a presentation of the different UF fractionation modes, a comparison of these modes, and some thoughts about the optimization of them; and (3) a short description.of applications.