Membranes applications in oil refining and petrochemical industry

"Green process engineering" is nowadays making a fundamental contribution to the sustainable industrial development by introducing a new design philosophy based on the principles of Process Intensification Strategy, which leads to the development and the re-designing of more compact and efficient new processes in many areas of applications. Membrane technologies well fit the principles of this design philosophy and this is testified by the various applications of membranes in chemical and petrochemical industry and by the various types of operations that are considered for these applications. In this chapter the main applications of membrane technology in the oil refining petrochemical industry and the related current research trends are described in detail focusing on the impact that membrane technology can have on the process. In addition, a case study is provided to illustrate the analysis of a membrane process, also in terms of Process Intensification.