Guideline of action regarding future research and development in the field of membrane technology (MT)

Abstract

Water scarcity represents today a proble1n of big concern, not only for Arabian or African countries, but also for the whole earth. The increase of population, as well as the needs of modern society which are leading to a higher development of industrial productions (that means a higher use of water as feed source and a higher production of wastewater), are at the basis of the increase of the fresh water demand registered in last years. In this context, membrane technologies are playing an important role. Wastewater treatment by membrane operations is an interesting way to recover purified water from the effluent streams coming from industries, by improving the overall performance of the production process. This is the case, for example, of textile industries that discharge aqueous solutions containing dyes to the environment.