Ionic exchange membranes in the pharmaceutical industry – Review

In line with the longer life expectancy, the pharmaceutical sector, responsible for the continuous development, production and supply of new drugs to cope with the population’s healthcare, has been consistently growing. This scenario illustrates the use of some innovative technologies in industrial processes as the major contributing factor. Amongst these technologies, membrane separation technology stands out. This technique affords the filtration and separation of biological molecules at the nanoscale, resulting in a more expedited manufacturing process and a higher purified end product. Depending on the driving force applied, the separation process involves different approaches, feed stages, different pores’ sizes or permeates. In the scope of membrane separation technology, electrodialysis (ED) uses an electrical potential difference as the driving force to separate ions based on their charge. In this sense, ion-exchange membranes are the most widely used separation materials in purifying systems as they have the advantage of partitioning species of different charges. The present study evaluates two ion-exchange membranes' aptitude as separators for ED filtration of some industrial chemical processes. Keywords: Ionic-exchange membranes, separation technology, pharmaceutical industry wastewater treatment, electrodialysis