Membrane processes in food and pharmaceutical industries

Membrane technology is today recognized as the key factor for a sustainable growth in many industrial sectors due to its advantages over conventional separation processes. This chapter provides a general overview on existing and emerging applications of various membrane technologies in food and pharmaceutical industry. Special emphasis has been given to the use of pressure-driven membrane operations and membrane contactors in selected areas of the agro-food production (milk and whey, fruit juice processing, wine industry) and pharmaceutical industry (enantiomeric separations, drug delivery, recovery of pharmaceuticals from wastewater). The main technological challenges, advances, and perspectives are analyzed and discussed in the light of recent studies carried out on both laboratory and pilot scale.