Membrane-based hybrid processes: A review

It has been widely recognized that membrane separation processes can offer many advantages over conventional mass transfer processes. A large number of membrane separation processes are currently being practiced in various sectors of industries. Despite the advantages, membrane processes often suffer from shortcomings when used individually. To overcome such limitations, membrane-based hybrid processes have been developed to maximize the productivity of the target separation processes. In this review, the membrane hybrid processes reported in the literature are classified into several categories and chosen examples of the processes are presented to show the general trends in the development of membrane-based hybrid processes.