Membrane Engineering in the Circular Economy: Renewable Sources Valorization in Energy and Downstream Processing in Agro-food Industry

This book describes the role of the membrane engineering in the biorefinery and in the downstream processing of the agro-food industry, as well as in the valorization of biosources and in the renewable energy generation, all interconnected by the common purpose of transforming a waste into a source, according to the principles of the circular economy. The book is split into three sections: the first section (Chapters 1-6), Membrane Engineering and Renewable Energy in the Circular Economy, focuses on the impact of several membrane operations in meeting the objective of the circular and the zero waste economy applied to the energy production and waste valorization. The second section (Chapters 7-12), Biorefinery by Membrane Separation Technology, covers the topic of developing membrane-based processes for the valorization of agro-food industrial wastes. The last section (Chapters 13-19), Case Studies, illustrates the impact of the membrane engineering on the management of biosources for different purposes (energy, biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries, food waste treatment and added values bioproducts, etc.).