I n s t i t u t e on Membr ane Techno logy I TM-CNR ITM NEWS

Summary:

New signed MOU 1

Past Events 2

Publications 3

High Educational and Training Activities 4

Visiting Scientists 5

ITM students abroad 7

New Projects 7

Focus on Research 8

Projects Meetings 9

Short Visits and Summer Internships 6

Future Events 10

Scientific Events of interest

11

c/o University of Calabria, Via Pietro Bucci, Cubo 17C, 87030 Rende (CS) ITALY Tel: (39) - (0984) 492050/402706, Fax: (39) - (0984) 402103 E-mail: l.giorno@itm.cnr.it Director: Lidietta Giorno

July 2010, Issue 12

Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between CNR and Calabria Region On July 2nd an interesting and important MoU has been signed at Catanzaro between the Calabria Regional Government, the Rectors of the Calabrian Universities and the President of the Italian National Research Council. The MoU was related to an innovative project addressed to the realization of new research infrastructures in the Region and to the construction of new Centers for Research and Innovation in various scientific areas, where the CNR is particularly active. Among them Membrane Engineering has been identified, as also Advanced Computational Systems Neurological Sciences, Atmospheric Pollutions, Biomedicine, etc. The three Universities will provide at no cost in their Campus the space necessary for the construction of the new CNR Research Centers and Technological Parks. Prof. Luciano Maiani, President of the CNR attended this event and signed the agreement with the President of the Region, Giuseppe Scopelliti. After the signature of the MoU, Prof. Luciano Maiani visited the ITM-CNR at the Campus of the University of Calabria. During his visit he had the opportunity of meeting all the ITM staff and also the foreign researchers at the moment hosted by ITM (from India, Iraq, Libya, Korea, Spain, Hungary, Iran, etc) and to visit the various laboratories where different research projects in Membrane Science and Membrane Engineering are in progress. The ITM staff enjoyed this visit very much and appreciated the time and efforts the President dedicated them.

The 4th Korea-Italy S&T Forum was held in Naples from June 2 - 4, 2010 at the University of Naples “Federico II” Congress Center. The aim of this Conference has been promoting the cooperation among Ital ian and Korean teams of researchers in the f ield of Biotechnology and Bioengineering, enhancing the mutual visibi l i ty of the research systems in the two Countries, and laying the grounds for the establishment of a vir tual col laborative environment for research, training and industrial support in the areas addressed by the event. The conference was divided in four session devoted to the fol lowing f ields: 1) Biomaterials in Regenerative Medicine 2) Biochemistry & Environment 3) Selective Transport Processes in Biotechnology and bioengineering 4) Peptide and Protein Science The coordinators of the third session were Prof. Enrico DRIOLI (CNR-ITM - The University of Calabria) and Dr. Kew-Ho LEE (KRICT - Membrane and Separation

Center). The Korean and Ital ian speakers come from different Universit ies and Companies such as: Chungnam National University, Insti tute on Membrane Technology, Hannam University, Solvay Solexis Co., GVS and Ajou University.

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The 4th Korea-Italy S&T Forum, Naples ( Italy)

The ECI Conference on “Advances in Science and Engineering for Brackish Water and Seawater Desalination”, organized by Engineering Conferences International, New York (USA) and ITM-CNR, was held from 8 to 12 of May at the Grand Hotel San Michele in Cetraro (CS), Italy. The conference was chaired by Professor Enrico Drioli, Institute on Membrane Technology (ITM-CNR) and University of Calabria, Italy and Dr. Norman Li, NL Chemical Technology, Inc. (USA) and was focused on the advances in seawater and brackish water desalination and their strong relation to new technologies and process intensification strategy with particular attention to the integrated and hybrid water purification technologies, innovative desalination operations, future water planning and industrial contributions. The event was also significant to discuss on the existing limits of current water treatment technologies and future possible developments in new and non-traditional areas interfacing environment, water distribution systems, etc.

Participants coming from different Countries (about 20) attended the conference: Mexico, Malaysia, Iraq, Italy, Spain, USA, United Arab Emirates, Australia, Germany, The Netherlands, Iran, Russia, Czech Republic, Japan, United Kingdom, France, Israel, Belgium, Singapore, etc. The technical programme included both oral and poster presentations on the following topics: Membrane engineering for process intensification; Membrane engineering in desalination and water treatment; Desalination and environment; Membranes for wastewater treatment and reuse. Worldwide efforts for the improvement of water problem: the MEDINA project and other projects in progress; Membrane contactors and new desalination technologies and strategies. A guided tour along the Tyrrhenian coast, a visit to the University of Calabria and ITM-CNR laboratories and a dinner at Old Rende, were organised.

ECI Conference, Cetraro (Calabria), Italy

The 7th Italy ‐ Korea Workshop on “Membranes for a clean environment” has been held from June 4 to 6, in the magnificent frame of the Amalfi Coast in Ravello (SA, Italy). This workshop represents the biennial event devoted to discussions on membrane science and technology and joint research projects in the two Countries. Since the 1st Workshop held in Cetraro (CS, Italy) in 1997, this event allows leading Italian and Korean experts, from academia and industries, to meet and it offers an excellent opportunity for fruitful discussion about state-of-the art and emerging technologies in membrane science. The workshop was chaired and opened by Prof. Enrico Drioli (ITM-CNR, Italy) and Prof. Kew-Ho Lee (KRICT, Korea), which pointed out the relevant opportunities of membrane science and technology to contribute to a sustainable growth “for a clean environment” in the logic of the process intensification strategy. Italian participants from large industrial groups (Ansaldo Fuel Cells, Italcementi Group, Solvay Solexis SpA, Cannon BONO Artes Ingegneria Spa) emphasized the key role of innovative membrane technology for industrial applications. A successful example of this strategy is the case of the fuel cells where membrane technology play a fundamental role from fuel production and upgrading (membrane reactor and gas separation) to energy conversion (polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells PEMFCs). The 31 attendants actively participated to technical discussions during the 22 lectures divided in three sections, and a poster session, in which many of the fundamentals aspects of membrane technology have been presented: from innovative membrane materials to new membrane operations, from gas separations to artificial organs, etc.

7th I taly - Korea Workshop, Ravello ( Italy)

Scientific Events organized by ITM

− Belov, N.A., Sanfirova,O.Yu., Yampolski i , Yu.P., Jansen, J.C., Study of perf luorinated polymer Hyflon 80AD using inverse gas chromatography, Polym. Sci., Ser. A , 52 (2010), 781–786. DOI: 10.1134/S0965545X1008002X

− Bernardo, P., Barbieri, G., Driol i , E., Evaluation of membrane reactor with hydrogen-selective membrane in methane steam reforming, Chemical Engineering Science, 2010, 65, 1159-1166, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ces.2009.09.071

− Bernat, X., Piacentini, E., Bazzarell i , F., Bengoa, C, Fabregat, A., Driol i , E., Font, J., Giorno, L., Ferrous Ion Effects on the Stabil i ty and Properties of Oil- in-Water Emulsions Formulated by Membrane Emulsif ication, Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, 2010, 49, 3818–3829

− Brunett i A., Scura F., Barbieri G., Driol i E., Membrane technologies for CO2 separation, J. Mem. Sci., 2010, 359, 115-125, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.memsci.2009.11.040

− Buonomenna, M.G., Golemme, G., Figoli , A., Driol i , E., Fluorinated membranes as interfaces for application in catalysis, Desalination Volume: 250, Issue: 3, January 30, 2010, pp. 1147-1149

− Buonomenna, M.G., Gordano, A., Golemme, G., Driol i , E., Preparation, character ization and use of PEEKWC nanofi l trat ion membranes for removal of Azur B dye from aqueous media, Reactive and Functional Polymers Volume: 69, Issue: 4, Apri l , 2009, pp. 259-263

− Caravella A., Barbieri G., Driol i E., Concentration Polarization Analysis in Self-supported Pd-based Membranes, Separation and Purif ication Technology, 2009, 66, 613-624

− Caravella A., Scura F., Barbieri G., Driol i E., "Sieverts law empirical exponent for pd-based membranes: crit ical analysis in pure H2 permeation”, J. Phys. Chem. B, 2010, 114, 6033–6047, http://dx.doi .org/10.1021/jp1006582

− Casell i , A., Buonomenna, M.G., de Baldironi, F., Laera, L., Fantauzzi, S., Ragaini, F., Gallo, E., et. al. , From homogeneously to heterogeneously catalyzed cyclopropanation reactions: New polymeric membranes embedding cobalt chiral schiff base complexes, Journal of Molecular Catalysis. A, Chemical Volume: 317, Issue: 1-2, February 15, 2010, pp. 72-80

− Cassano, A., Conidi, C., Driol i , E. Physico-chemical parameters of Cactus Pear (Opuntia Ficus-Indica) juice clarif ied by microf i l trat ion and ultrafi l tration processes, Desalination, 2010, 250, (3) 1101-1104

− Chovau, S., Dobrak, A., Figoli , A., Galiano, F., S.Simone, Driol i , E., Sikdar, S.K., Van der Bruggen, B., Pervaporation performance of unfi l led and f i l led PDMS membranes and novel SBS membranes for the removal of toluene from diluted aqueous solutions, Chem. Eng. J. 159(1-3), 2010, 37-46

− Curcio, E., Ji, X., Di Profio, G., Sulaiman, A.O., Fontananova, E., Driol i , E., Membrane dist i l lat ion operated at high seawater concentration factors: Role of the membrane on CaCO3 scaling in presence of humic acid, Journal of Membrane Science, 346(2) 2010, 263-269

− Curcio, E., Macchiarini, P., De Bartolo, L. Oxygen mass transfer in a human tissue engineered trachea. Biomaterials 2010, 31:5131-5136. − Dobrak, A., Figoli , A., Chovau, S., Galiano, F., Simone, S., Vankelecom, I.F.J., Driol i , E., Van der Bruggen, B., Performance of PDMS

membranes in pervaporation: Effect of si l ical i te f i l lers and comparison with SBS membranes, Journal of Colloid And Interface Science, 346(1) 2010, 254-264

− Figoli , A., Cassano, A., Criscuoli , A., Islam Mozumder, M.S., Uddin, M.T., Islam, M.A., Driol i , E., Inf luence of operating parameters on the arsenic removal by nanofi l tration, Water Research, Volume 44, Issue 1, 2010, Pages 97-104

− Figoli , A., Tagarel l i , A., Cavaliere, B., Voci, C., Sindona, G., Sikdar, S.K., Driol i , E., Evaluation of pervaporation process of kiwifruit juice by SPME-GC/Ion Trap Mass Spectrometry Desalination Volume: 250, Issue: 3, January 30, 2010, pp. 1113-1117

− Fontananova, E., Trotta, F., Jansen, J.C., Driol i , E., Preparation and characterization of new non-fluorinated polymeric and composite membranes for PEMFCs, Journal of Membrane Science Volume: 348, Issue: 1-2, February 15, 2010, pp. 326-336

− Gosalawit,R., Figoli , A., Chirachanchai, S., Physicochemical and electrochemical characterizations of organic montmori l lonite (OMMT)/sulfonated poly(ether ether ketone) (SPEEK) composite membranes Asia-Pacif ic Journal of Chemical Engineering, 1(5), 60-65

− Gugliuzza, A., Aceto, M.C, Driol i , E., Interactive functional poly(vinyl idene f luoride) membranes with modulated lysozyme aff inity: a promising class of new interfaces for contactor crystal l izers, Polymer International Volume: 58, Issue: 12, December 0, 2009, pp. 1452-1464

− Hara S., Haraya K., Barbieri G., Driol i E., “Estimating l imit conversion for methane steam reforming in a palladium membrane reactor using counter-current sweep gas”, Asia-Pac. J. Chem. Eng. – special issue on Membrane Reactors, 2010, 5, 48-59, http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/apj.381

− Ji, X., Curcio, E., Al Obaidani, S., Di Profio, G., Fontananova, E., Driol i , E., Membrane dist i l lat ion-crystal l ization of seawater reverse osmosis brines, Separation and Purif ication Technology, 71(1) 2010, 76-82

− Mazzei, R., Driol i , E., Giorno, L., Biocatalyt ic membrane reactor and membrane emulsif ication concepts combined in a single unit to assist production and separation of water unstable react ion products, Journal of Membrane Science, 352(1-2) 2010, 166-172

− Memoli B, Salerno S, Procino A, Postigl ione L, Morell i S, Sir ico ML, Giordano F, Ricciardone M, Driol i E, Andreucci VE, De Bartolo L. A translational approach to micro-inflammation in end-stage renal disease: molecular effects of low levels of interleukin-6. Clinical Science 2010, 119:163-174

− Morell i , S., Salerno, S., Piscioneri , A., Campana, C., Driol i , E., De Bartolo, L., Membrane bioreactors for regenerative medicine: an example of the bioart i f icial l iver. Asia-Pacif ic Journal of Chemical Engineering 2010, 5(1): 146-159

− Morell i , S., Salerno, S., Piscioneri, A., Papenburg, B.J., Di Vito, A., Giusi, G., Canonaco, M., Stamatial is, D., Driol i , E., De Bartolo, L., Influence of micropatterned PLLA membranes on the outgrowth and orientation of hippocampal neurit is. Biomaterials 2010, doi :10.1016/j.biomaterials.2010.05.079

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PUBLICATIONS (from December 2009 to July 2010)

Tavolaro, A., Tavolaro, P., Martino, G., Membrana zeoli t ica per adesioni e colture di cel lule, procedimento per la preparazione ed applicazione, ITALIAN PATENT N° CS2010A000003, 9 Febbraio 2010

Patents

NEW BOOK PUBLISHED

Comprehensive Membrane Science and Engineering Edited By: Enrico Drioli, Lidietta Giorno , JUL-2010 This multivolume work covers all aspects of membrane science and technology--from basic phenomena to the most advanced applications and future perspectives. Modern membrane engineering is critical to the development of process-intensification strategies and to the stimulation of industrial growth. The work presents researchers and industrial managers with an indispensable tool toward achieving these aims.

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High Educational and Training Activit ies New PhD Students Academic Year 2009-2010 (XXV Cycle) - University of Calabria Doctorate on “Cellular Biochemistry and Pharmacological Activity in Oncology: I laria Iolanda Riccio , Preparation and characteriza-t ion of new zeoli t ic membranes for oncology applications International Doctorate School “Pitagora” in Engineering: Malik Fakron , Integrated membrane system in the desalinat ion f ield

International Adjudication Committees at public doctoral disputations Lidietta Giorno served as member of the International Adjudication Committees of the fol lowing academic PhD theses:

Date : 18 Feb 2010 Title of thesis : Treatment of biorefractory wastewater through membrane-assisted oxidation processes Candidate and Institution : Xavier Bernat Camí , UNIVERSITAT ROVIRA I VIRGILI, Departament d'Enginyeria Químicam, Spain

Date : 6 Apri l 2010 Title of thesis : Stabil isation de l ’ interface l iquide-l iquide dans un comtacteur membranaire: Application à l ’extraction sélective de terpènes oxygénés d’huiles essentiel les d’agrumes Candidate and Institution : Aurélie Dupuy , L’Insti tut des Sciences et Industries du vivant et de l ’Environment (AgroParisTech), France

Date : 25 May 2010 Title of thesis : Separation and concentration of some nitrated cellulosic derivatives using inorganic membrane separation system Candidate and Institution : Ashraf Abdu Ismail Soleman , Faculty of Science, Cairo University, Giza, A.R. Egypt

Meeting on Cooperative actions between EMS and KMS In order to increase cooperation on education, dissemination, research and development in membrane science and engineering between Europe and Korea, a Meeting on Cooperative actions between EMS and KMS was held on May 21, 2010 at the Energy Engineering Department, Hanyang University, Seoul and attended by Prof. Enrico DRIOLI (Honorary President of the EMS), Lidiet ta GIORNO (President of the EMS) and Young Moo LEE (President of the KMS). During the meeting the fol lowing actions were discussed: 1) Bilateral EU-Korea Thematic workshops on membranes and membrane operations in energy and water: the strategic f ields

were identif ied on the basis of the investments occurring both in Europe and in Korea. In Europe, for example, the projects related to membrane engineering funded by the EC within the FP7, focused on energy (~45%) and water (~33%) related aspects. In Korea, MEST and private enterprises are investing huge efforts in education and research in these f ields.

2) Summer Schools : i t has also been considered the opportunity to promote schools devoted to education in membrane engineering (eventually performed in conjunction with the workshop) with the aim of spread education in membrane engineering.

3) Common Proposal within FP7 International Cooperation : i t was convened on the perspective of applying within the EC FP7 call for proposals for an International Cooperation project, including partners from all over Asia (according to cal l availabi l i ty).

4) Dissemination via EMS Membrane News letter and KMS bulletin : The Membrane News already has a section in which papers published in Korea, Japan and China are l isted. In addit ion, the section could be enlarged including a “Membrane News from Korea” in which news from industries, students, faculty members, etc. wil l be publ ished (including reports on ended projects, PhD thesis, research highlights, patents, open posit ions, etc.) Similar options could be offered to EU membranologists within the KMS bullet in.

Seminars Prof. Enrico Drioli has been Visit ing Professor at WCU Energy Engineering Department of the Hanyang University in Seoul, Korea. During his staying (spring 2010) he had the opportunity of visit ing and lecturing in various Universit ies and Korean Companies as l isted:

− May 7, 2010, Korea Univ., Membrane engineering for a Process Intensif ication strategy in the petrochemical industry, invited by The Membrane Society of Korea, 2010 General Meeting and Spring Conference

− May 18, 2010, Gyeonggi-do, Water purif ication system using membrane, invited by Samsung Cheil Industry E-project Team − May 31, 2010, Seoul National University, Nanostructured Membrane Systems in Process Intensif ication, invited by SNU WCU

Chemical Convergence for Energy & Environment − June 14, 2010, Seoul National University, Reverse Osmosis(RO) & Forward Osmosis(FO), invited by SNU National Research

Lab. Water Environment – Membrane Technology − June 16, 2010, Daejeon, Membrane Engineering for a process intensif ication strategy: Potential i t ies and Realizations, invited by

KRICT (Korea Research Insti tute of Chemical Technology) − June 21, 2010, Seoul National University, Membrane Contactor, invited by SNU WCU Dr. Lidietta Giorno held two Seminars at the Hanyang University: − May 19, 2010, Biomimetic membranes and biohybrid membrane processes for hyghly selective productions

In brief Lidietta Giorno is member of the Journal Membrane Science Editorial Board http://www.elsevier.com/wps/f ind/journaleditor ialboard.cws_home/502692/editorialboard

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Visiting Scientists Two years and four months ! It seems just yesterday I started my very first post-doc research in ITM-CNR. It was just beginning of my new life abroad with new people and with new hope. During this period, I have involved two (CAMERE and IMeTI) projects, and these two projects provide me a lot of chances to learn not only the academic knowledge about the membrane but also how to approach the goal, how to manage the experimental results and way to make better publications. The life in Italy was absolutely fantastic except the hot weather in summer. As far as I know, all people in Italy, especially in ITM-CNR, have warm heart and kind smile. It doesn’t matter to speak English or not. I could feel their heart and it makes me really happy. It is time to say goodbye! Before I say goodbye to all people in ITM, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to all friends (you) who providing me the tremendous opportunity to experience helpful and joyful new life in Italy; my appreciation to Prof. Enrico Drioli and Dr. Giuseppe Barbieri who made my time in ITM an experience that far surpassed my every expectation; and my admiration to administrators who continue to devote their time and efforts to support me for convenient life in here. Finally, special thanks to Dr. Franco Tasselli, Dr. Johannes C (John) Jansen and Dott. Ssa Mariella Liberti who stayed their precious time (even in the weekend) for me to eat, to walk and to study. Lastly, I left my wife (Eun Woo, LEE) here in ITM, and I am 100% sure you will be nice as much as you can for her exactly same as now.

Seung Hak CHOI

Hello! My name is Dr. Andras KORIS (andras.koris@uni-corvinus.hu) and I am an assistant professor from Hungary, Corvinus University of Budapest, Faculty of Food Science, Department of Food Engineering (www.emuv.kee.hu , www.uni-corvinus.hu). One of my specialties is the treatment of oily streams by membrane processes. I spent 6 month at ITM, from February to August in 2010. During my stay I have learnt a lot about different membrane emulsification methods and analysis. I had the possibility also to join into the research “optimization of cross-flow membrane emulsification” with Dr. Giorno and Dr. Piacentini. In the frame of this research we carried out investigations on the effects of shear-stress modifications on o/w emulsion forming through different physical methods. In the experiments, SPG membranes with different nominal pore sizes were used. Beside these things I get large number of good experiences in many other fields. In this 6 month I met most of the researchers, members, PhD and other students of ITM and I can say I found very friendly, kind people and atmosphere here. After working in the labs during the weeks, on the weekends I could look around and meet the beauties of Calabria; the cities, towns, mountains and seaside as well; I never get bored here. I truly hope that the co-operation between ITM and my university will continue in the future. Ciao, ci vediamo!

A broad and in-depth expertise on synthesis of membranes with suitable infrastructure for membrane manufacturing is a good opportunity for new researchers to find their ways to make a membrane. During my stay at the ITM-CNR, I’ve been engaged in two main research topics: Membrane synthesis and Molecular dynamic modeling. I explored the possibility of new polymeric membrane for organic solvent filtration under the supervision of Dr. Franco Tasseli and Dr. Johannes C. Jansen. Dr.Elena Tocci, well-known expertise on molecular modeling and design of membrane transport, kindly instructed me to investigate the membrane separation by using of molecular modeling as well. I would like to express my sincere thanks to the researchers of Membrane Institute and all members of the ITM-CNR, especially for their kind cooperation and hospitality. I appreciate my Boss and my friend, Prof.Ir Bart Van der Bruggen for his continued support and encouragement. Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek – Vlaanderen (FWO) is also gratefully acknowledge for financial support during my stay at ITM-CNR. My name is Siavash Darvishmanesh, and I am doing my PhD at Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium.

I am Jaime Humberto Mendoza, student from Universidad del Valle Cali-Colombia-Sur America. I have visited ITM-CNR for a training in the frame work of my PhD studies on “clarification and concentration of Uchuva ( Physalis peruviana) juice” by ultrafiltration and osmotic distillation. Prof. Drioli hosted me for a short term study (2 months) starting from march 27th-2010 under the super-vision of Dr. Cassano. My research activity consisted in the clarification of red orange juice and in the evaluation of the effect of operating parameters on the evaporation fluxes during the concentration of the clarified juice by osmotic distillation. Before my travel, I knew the importance of the researchers of ITM-CNR all over the world and the re-sponsibility that I had, because I was the first person coming here from my university in Colombia. I was a little afraid because I did not know what I went to find. But when I arrived, I was surprised to meet a lot of nice persons; During my stage I cooperated with researchers having a great experience and knowledge but also very friendly and not selfish to share everything that they knew. For me it was an honour to be part of this group. I learned a lot of interesting things. I just want to say thanks to all ITM-CNR group, the director Dr. Lidietta Giorno, Dr. Drioli for their kindness and hospitality; Dr. Franco Tasselli, Dr. Gianpiero Chiappetta, Dr. Mariella Liberti, Mr. Massimo Grandinetti and especially Dr. Cassano for their help in all moments, kindness, advices and friendship; Dr. Car-mela Conidi always smiling that made me feel at home “ she is an angel”, thanks for your help, to share your knowledge, for her patience, friendship and I could not forget a wonderful group of people that help me and try to teach the Italian language without the best results. I promise when arrive to Colombia that “Io imparerò l’italiano”. Caterina, Diego, Vincenzo, Fitim, Filomena, Graziella,Valentina, Stefania. The best for you. My experience was really amazing. Last thanks to my University and Colciencias (Investigation Institute from my Country) that gave me the support to do this training period.

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In the Framework of the CNR-AVCR bilateral agreement, Dr. Karel Friess of the Institute of Chemical Technology, Prague (ICTP), and Dr. Pavel Izak of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Chemical Process Fundamentals (ICPF-CAS) have visited ITM from 7 to 11 June. During their stay, under supervision of Dr. John Jansen and Ing Gabriele Clarizia, they have studied the thermal, mechanical and gas- and vapour transport properties of series of ionic liquid-containing polymeric membranes. This collaboration foresees a series of similar exchanges of personnel between the participating institutes in the next three years.

Short Visits and Summer Internships I am Kunal Jain, an undergraduate student in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi (IITD).During my short stay at ITM-CNR from May2010-July 2010, I have been working with the research group of Dr.Alfredo Cassano in the field of Integrated membrane operation in agro-food productions and waste water treatments. It has been a

pleasure to do my internship at this renowned institute of world class infrastructure. The exposure to the several membrane based modern devices that i have received here will be very helpful for my future research in this field. Finally, I would like to express my sincere thanks to Alfredo Cassano, Carmela, other researchers and all the students who have helped me at every point and made my stay here a memorable experience. I hope to continue my association with the institute even in future.

My name is Praveen Chauhan. I am an undergraduate student of Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi majoring in Chemical Engineering . At this moment, I am enjoying my three months summer internship here in ITM-CNR under the guidance of Mr. Gianluca Di Profio in the field of membrane crystallization. our main focus is on “crystallization of pharmaceutical compounds and semiconductors by using suitable membrane(hydrophobic, hydrophilic….) under appropriate conditions ,which have more industrial importance”. I also have done an experiment on crystallization of glutamic acid using macro porous hydrophobic membrane which gave good outcomes. This brought me a very good experience .Through this I came to know about the basics of Membrane Crystallization. I am very glad because I am learning about membrane science and technology and everyone (coordinators , tutors, collaborators at ITM) has accepted and welcomed me very kindly. I would like to thank everybody . Also I am enjoying my stay here in this beautiful University campus. This is a remarkable experience. Finally , I would like to thank Prof. Enrico Drioli who gave me this great opportunity.

My name is Mohammad Aamir Azhar, and I am a bachelor student of Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee (India). I am visiting ITM-CNR for 2 months summer internship sponsored by University of Calabria. This visit has been instrumental in learning membrane reactors and Hydrogen separation using palladium based membranes under guidance of Prof. Enrico Drioli. I am carrying out experimental tests to check the performance of palladium based membranes under various operating conditions. The time I am spending here has given me opportunity to meet nice people of different nationality and ethnicity. It is big opportunity for me to work in well know laboratory and equip myself with new techniques in my research field. This training has enabled me to learn basics of gas separation using metallic membranes and the factors influencing it. The people have been very friendly and supportive throughout my stay here. I must particularly thank Dr. Barbieri and Dr. Chiappetta for their support and advice in the laboratory.

Prof. Qusay Fadhel, Dr. Talib Mohammad Naief and the master-student Mr. Arman Adam Yagoub are coming from The University of Technology, Oil and Gas Refinery Engineering Department, Chemical Engineering School in Baghdad (Iraq), and they are staying three months at ITM-CNR, in July-September

2010. Their stay is within the agreement, signed by ITM-CNR/University of Calabria and the Chemical Engineering School, University of Technology of Baghdad, which considers the possibility for researchers, coming from University of Technology of Baghdad, to spend a certain period at the ITM-CNR for carrying out the research in hollow-fiber membrane preparation and characterisation. This work will be carried out under the supervision of Prof. Drioli and Dr. Figoli as principal investigators.

From 7 to 11 June 2010, Adel Ouradi, Assistant professor of chemistry in the University of Blida (USDB) and researcher in the University of Algiers (USTHB) from Algeria has visited ITM in the framework of his PhD studies on the synthesis and characterization of microporous polymeric membranes. During this visit, under supervision of Franco Tasselli and John Jansen, he developed new polysulfone membranes intended for use in ultrafiltration processes, and he characterized their morphological, mechanical and transport properties.

Dr. Emanuele Di Nicolò is a researcher of the Material S c i e n c e Group of Solvay Solexis in Bollate (Milan).

He is in charge of the Rheology Laboratory and has recently taken over the additional responsibility of the Membrane Lab. In order to acquire some basic knowledge in this field and learn how to implement the activity of this lab spent two weeks (21th June-2nd July) in our ITM Labs. Under the supervision of Dr. Alberto Figoli and Dr. Silvia Simone he attended various hollow fibers processing experiments and visited characterization and process laboratories of the Institute. He had the possibility to talk to most of the ITM researchers making questions, exchanging ideas and comments.

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ITM students abroad I am Luana De Lorenzo and actually I am attending a post-doctoral research fellowship at ITM-CNR within the project “Setting up research- intensive clusters across the EU on characterization of polymer nanostructures - NaPolyNet” Contract N° 218331, under the supervision of Dr. Elena Tocci. During the last year of my PhD studentship I’ve carried out a stage, financially supported by POR CALABRIA 2000/2006 MISURA 3.7, in the Soft Matter Chemistry Group of Leiden Institute of Chemistry, Leiden University, The Netherland, under the supervision of Prof. Hans Fraaije and Dr. Agur Sevink. Their activity deals with multiscale mesoscopic modeling of structure formation in block copolymers and life-mimicking systems [1-3] within the broad and fascinating field of supramolecular chemistry and chemical bio-nanotechnology. My research project aimed at complimenting the fully atomistic investigations [4-6] of the copoly(amide-12b-ethylene oxide) (PEBAX) series block copolymer, formed by

rigid segments of Polyamide-12 (PA-12) covalently linked to soft monomers of poly(tetramethylene oxide) (PTMO), with mesoscopic techniques. Despite the great deal of experimental work, there’s a lack of information about the morphological behaviour of PEBAX®2533. From the analysis of the experimental data there’s no evidence of microphase separation on relevant scales due to the very low weight percentage of PA-12. Generally , the phase behaviour of a given AB-diblock is determined by two main factors: composition parameter, fA, and the ‘‘incompatibility’’ parameter, χAB where χAB is the Flory–Huggins parameter, and NA,B are the chain lengths (degrees of polymerization) of A and B blocks. The determination of χ is one of the most crucial steps in our procedure. The interaction parameter between PTMO and PA-12 has been estimated by fully atomistic simulations of the comonomers PA-12 and PTMO chains at experimental density. As a result PEBAX® 2533 has been modelled as a multiblock copolymer of the (AB)n type, where A is referred to the hard domain (PA-12) and B to the soft segment (PTMO). Dynamic Density Functional Theory (DDFT) simulations (Figure 1.1) have been conducted and the results show a disordered, amorphous system with small spots of PA-12. The work carried out in Leiden during my on-side training is the starting point for further realistic mesoscopic simulations of PEBAX i.e. the diffusion of gases through the material. In addition I felt very comfortable in the tulip land and I enjoyed the boat trips along Amsterdam channels with all the people of this fantastic group. References 1. J.G.E.M. Fraaije, G.J.A. Sevink, Macromolecules 36 (2003) 7891-7893. 2. G. Scocchi, P. Posocco, J.W. Handgraaf, J.G.E.M. Fraaije, M. Fermeglia, S. Pricl, Chemistry-A European Journal, 15 (2009) 7586-7592. 3. G. J. A. Sevink, A. V. Zvelindovsky, Macromolecules, 42 (2009) 8500-8512. 4. A. Gugliuzza, G. De Luca, E. Tocci, L. De Lorenzo, E. Drioli, J. Phys. Chem. B, 111 (2007) 8868-8878. 5. E. Tocci, A. Gugliuzza, L. De Lorenzo, M. Macchione, G. De Luca, E. Drioli, J. Membr. Sci., 323 (2008) 316-327. 6. L. De Lorenzo, E. Tocci, A. Gugliuzza, Drioli E. Molecular investigation of water solubility and structural properties of water solubility and structural properties of pure and

modified PEBAX models: in preparation.

Figure 1.1- PEBAX® 2533 DDFT simulation: Relative density field of B domain coloured in green, A domain coloured in red.

New Projects BioNexGen - Development of the next generation bioreactor system Funding Scheme: FP7 - Theme 4 – NMP - Nanosciences, Nanotechnologies, Materials and new Production Technologies - FP7-NMP-2009-SMALL-3 Proposal No: CP-FP 246039-2 BioNexGen ITM Principal Investigator: Alberto Figoli Coordinator: Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences (HSKA) Germany Partners: Institute for Membrane Technology (CNR-ITM) Italy; University of Nottingham (UON) UK; Foundation for Research and Technology, Hellas (FORTH) Greece; Steinbeis-Europa-Zentrum (SEZ) Germany; Microdyn-Nadir (MN) GermanyIzmir Institute of Technology (IZTECH) Turkey; Al Baath University (ABU) Syria; Central Metallurgical Research and Development Institute (CMRDI) Egypt; Centre de Biotechnologie de Sfax (CBS) Tunisia; Research and Development of Carbon Nanotubes S.A. (NTX) Greece Duration: 48 months (2010 – 2013)

BRASIL 2010 - 2011 Study of the chitosan-cell membrane interaction for the neuronal regeneration, CNR-CNPQ , Institute of Physics of São Carlos - IFSC, University of São Paulo – USP (São Carlos) ITM Scientific Responsible: Loredana De Bartolo

CZECH REPUBLIC 2010 - 2012 Novel composite membranes containing selected ionic liquids and polymers for gas and vapour separations, CNR - AVCR, Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Chemical Process Fundamentals (Prague) - ITM Scientific Responsible: John C. Jansen

POLAND 2010 - 2012 Development of biocompatible membranes to be used in bioartificial skin, CNR-PAN, Institute of Biocybernetic and Biomedical Enginieering Polish Academy of Sciences (Warszawa) - ITM Scientific Responsible: Loredana De Bartolo

CNR Bilateral Agreements

Integrated membrane plant for pure hydrogen production for PEMFC Nowadays, the necessity to release energy production from oil and natural gas as primary energy sources and, more in general, to diversify such sources, in order to assure the supplying, is making more pressing the interest on the innovative technologies. Moreover, the increasing effort on reduction of environmental problems has recently led to the development of clean technologies, designed to enhance both the efficiency and environmental acceptability of energy production, storage and use, in particular for power generation. Since the hydrogen represents, as energetic carrier, a good answer to the growing necessity of new, abundant, clean, safe and renewable energetic sources, its employment as feeding fuel for fuel cells is certainly one of the most attractive aspects for the scientific community. The membrane technology and, in particular, the membrane reactor represent a good answer in this field since they pursue, in the mean time, the maximization of the sources exploitation as well as the compactness of the new systems. One of the researches currently in progress at ITM-CNR is basically focused on application of the Membrane Engineering in the study of new integrated membrane plant solutions for the production of CO-free hydrogen (CO<10 ppm) for PEMFC (polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell). The chosen approach pursues the logic of process intensification strategy, a new design philosophy that heads toward most efficient processes, tending to a better exploitation of raw materials, lower energy consumption and, also, plant size reduction. This last point is one of the main aspects to take into account for what concerns the low environmental impact and, thus, represents an important variable to consider in the new production plant design strategies. Three different solutions for the production/separation/purification of hydrogen by light hydrocarbons, referring particularly to the upgrading of down-streams of reformers, have been proposed as a suitable alternative to the traditional systems. This focus has been done in the optic of integrating the new membrane systems in already existent plants, or in fuel processors on board. The three proposed solutions of integrated membrane plants are the following (Figure 1):

Solution A: Integrated membrane plant constituted by two stages: the first is a membrane reactor with a porous stainless steel supported silica membrane in which the water gas shift (WGS) reaction takes place. A purification step with a Pd-Ag membrane for the removal of the residual CO permeated through the silica membrane has been placed in series on the permeate stream coming out by the membrane reactor [1]. Solution B: Integrated membrane plant consisting of a single reaction/purification stage of a Pd-Ag membrane reactor where the WGS reaction is carried out. In dependence of the feed composition, an innovative MR configuration has been proposed in order to assure the best exploitation of the whole membrane area [2,3]. Solution C: Integrated membrane plant constituted by a single Pd-Ag purification step [4]. In all the cases the most important results obtained were: − improvement of CO conversion, always higher than traditional reactor and also exceeding its thermodynamic equilibrium conversion, in particular, at high pressure; − high recovery of pure hydrogen permeate streams, not requiring further separation steps before feeding a PEMFC; − reduction of reaction volume with respect to traditional reactor one. The high feed pressure allowed the reaction volume of the membrane reactors to be drastically reduced, acting positively on CO conversion. This result has been also confirmed by the simulation analysis [5]

studied in a wider range of feed pressure with respect to the experiments. It was found that, for example, at 280°C and 15 bar the reaction volume of a Pd-Ag MR was around 25% of a traditional reactor, in the same operating conditions, for a set CO conversion. Globally, the integrated plant solutions showed good results in terms of improved reactant conversions, high H2 recovery and, also, plant efficiency. Membrane

reactors, thus, represent a suitable alternative to the traditional hydrogen production plants and a valid solution for a “clean energy” production in already existent or new plants or in fuel processors on board. Adele Brunetti References [1] Brunetti A., Barbieri, G., Drioli, E., Granato T., Lee K.- H., Chemical Engineering Science, 62, 2007, 5621-5626 [2] Barbieri G., Brunetti A., Tricoli G., Drioli E., Journal of Power Sources, 182 (2008), 160–167 [3] Brunetti A., Barbieri G., Drioli E., Chem. Eng. Sci., 2009, 64, 3448-3454 [4] Brunetti A., Barbieri G., Drioli E., Chemical Engineering and Processing, 47 (2008), 1081–1089 [5]Brunetti A., Caravella C., Barbieri G., Drioli E., Journal on membrane science, 2007, 306/1-2,329-340

Focus on Research at ITM

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O2

H2O

Retentate

Silica Membrane

Retentate

WGS-MR

MR PermeateH2 rich stream

CO; CO2

Pd-Ag membranePurification step

PEMFC

COCO2H2

H2OPure H2

Solution A

Solution B

Solution C

Fig 2 Integrated membrane plant solutions

Fig. 2 Reaction volume reduction for different membrane types.

Trad

ition

al R

eact

or

Reaction Volume with respect to TR

Pd-a

lloy

MR

Silic

a M

R~

50

%

~ 3

0 %

100

%

Recovery and concentration of polyphenols from olive mill wastewaters by integrated membrane system

E. Garcia-Castelloa, A. Cassanob , A. Criscuolib, C. Conidib, E. Driolib aDepartment of Chemical and Nuclear Engineering, Polytechnic University of Valencia, Camino de Vera, s/n, 46022 Valencia, Spain bInstitute on Membrane Technology, ITM-CNR, c/o University of Calabria, via P. Bucci, cubo 17/C, I-87030 Rende (CS), Italy

The potentialities of an integrated membrane system for the recovery, purification and concentration of polyphenols from olive mill wastewater (OMW) have been recently evaluated. The proposed system includes some well-known membrane operations such as microfiltration (MF) and nanofiltration (NF), as well as others not yet investigated for this specific application, such as osmotic distillation (OD) and vacuum membrane distillation (VMD). The OMW has been directly submitted to a MF operation without preliminary centrifugation. This step allowed to achieve a 91% and 26% reduction of suspended solids and total organic carbon (TOC), respectively. Moreover, 78% of the initial content of polyphenols has been recovered in the permeate stream. The MF permeate has been submitted to a NF treatment. Almost all polyphenols have been recovered in the produced permeate solution, while TOC has been reduced from 15 g/L to 5.6 g/L. A concentrated solution enriched in polyphenols has been obtained by treating the NF permeate by OD. In particular, a solution containing about 0.5 g/L of free low molecular weight polyphenols, with hydroxytyrosol representing 56% of the total, has been produced by using a calcium chloride dihydrate solution as brine. The obtained solution is of interest for preparing formulations to be used in food, cosmetic and pharmaceutical industry. Besides the OD process, VMD has been applied as another way for concentrating the NF permeate and the performance of both processes has been compared in terms of evaporation fluxes.

Flowchart representing the activities carried out for the recovery, purification and concentration of polyphenols from olive mill wastewaters

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Olive mill wastewater

Microfiltration

Nanofiltration

Osmotic distillation

Permeate

Permeate

Vacuum membranedistillation

RetentateRetentate

Feed

Retentate

Retentate

The final meeting of the FP6 EU funded Membrane-Based Desalination: An Integrated Approach project (acronym MEDINA) was held in Paris, at the Centre de Recherche des Cordeliers, on January 7th and 8th, 2010. Beside the participation of representatives of all Organizations involved in the project, Korean colleagues responsible of SeaHero project, Dr. Kurihara Masaru (from Japan) and Dr. Michel Schouppe (the European Officer of MEDINA project) attended as well. Whereas the Korean experts reported about the main goals of their on-going project, MEDINA participants presented the main activities carried out in the forty-two months of the project. Interesting and fruitful speeches were made focusing on the policy, the progresses and the most relevant results achieved in the project, and on the possibility of having new proposals and projects as fallout of MEDINA. During the project, MEDINA consortium developed a work programme which aimed at improving design and operation practices of the current membrane-based desalination plants. Project team tried to solve or, at least, to decrease some critical issues of sea and brackish water desalination systems such as: improvement of water quality, enhancement of recovery factor, reduction of water cost, minimizing of brine disposal problem. For solving and/or alleviating these problems, an approach based on the integration of different operations in reverse osmosis (RO) pre-treatment and post-treatment stages was proposed. In the pre-treatment steps, the integration of new tools and approaches (such as advanced water quality characterisation, enhanced membrane chemical cleaning strategies, and membrane autopsies) allowed

better identification of root causes of operation failures and development of efficient remedy actions. In the post-treatment, the recourse to Membrane Distillation, Membrane Crystallization (MCr) and Wind-Aided Intensified eVaporation (WAIV) processes allowed to increase recovery factors and to recover the salts usually dissolved in the concentrated streams of the desalination plants. Increasing recovery factors of desalination plants also leads to the reduction of brine volumes to be discharged in the environment and, therefore, to the minimization of desalination plants environmental impacts and to the development of inland brackish water desalination. For example, tests carried out on a brackish water desalination system constituted by pre-treatment/RO/WAIV/MCr proved that water recoveries as high as 75 – 76% can be achieved while less than 0.75% of the raw water fed to the desalination system is discharged to the environment. The positive role of the MBR in the RO pre-treatments has been also experimentally tested, particularly when membrane crystallisers have been considered to operate on the NF and RO brine. Now the project is going to its end (foreseen for January 2010) and a concrete dissemination policy has been started for the diffusion and discussion of the results of potential interest for industrial exploitation.

Final MEDINA meeting, Paris (France), Jan. 7 -8, 2010

Projects Meetings and Related Activities

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DoubleNanoMem 6th month progress meeting, Prague (Czech Republic), Jan. 21 - 22, 2010 The 6th month progress meeting of the 7th Framework Programme DoubleNanoMem took place on January 2010 at ICT Prague. All participating project partners were present by the group leaders or by adequate substitutes. Meeting was officially opened by the leader of the organizing ICT group Dr. Karel Friess and by the coordinator of project Dr. John Jansen. The opening ceremony continued with presentations of prof. Tomáš Ruml (Vice-rector of ICT) and Mrs. Anna Mittnerová (LEAR of ICT) of the history and the present of ICT involving education and research activities. Following work package discussions (WP 1 and 2) involved information of successful synthesis of new polymeric materials (trimethyl-silylnorbornene, bis(trimethylsilyl)-triciclononene) or newly prepared copolymers (PIM-PEG) or inorganic fillers (zeolites, carbon nanotubes) and about testing their properties. In WP 3,4 and 5 speakers gave detailed insight into preparation of mixed matrix membranes or hollow fibers and presented determined transport properties of such membrane samples. The theoretical work based on

Molecular Dynamics simulations of PIM-PI and on the Quantum Chemical analysis of gas transport in functionalized carbon nanotubes was presented in WP6. The main part of WP 7 constituted demonstration of modelling and experimental findings on alcohol/water pervaporation (PV) and gas separation (CO2/N2) in a pilot plant unit. Separation of potential contaminants (from batch solution) of the membrane as potential side-targets in PV experiments was also discussed in this work package. The first day was closed by the working dinner in the traditional stylish Czech restaurant Ambiente Lokál situated in the Old Town, in the hearth of historic Prague. Second day of meeting was opened by Dr. Jansen with presentations of work done in WP 8 and WP 9. After it followed an interesting guest lecture given by Dr. Vladimir Šindelář from Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic on three types of cucurbiturils. Such nano-scale materials, which are supplied by his working group to ICT and other partners in the frame of DoubleNanoMem project, are now successfully imbedded into selected polymers and resulting mix matrix membranes are tested. He highlighted cucurbiturils synthesis, characterization and their possible mechanism to promote transport properties of the membranes in which they are present. After the discussions, the ICT laboratories involved in the project were visited and the meeting was officially closed.

NanoGLOWA meeting, Sevilla (Spain), June 8 - 9, 2010 The Nanoglowa meeting for the 42 months of activity was held in Sevilla (Spain) on June 8th -9th. A large number of the 26 partners attended the meeting that was focused on two main aspects. The first point was related to the results achieved feeding membrane modules, for several hours, by a mixture containing CO2, N2 and O2 and also SOx and NOx. The membranes showed interesting performance in terms of stability and durability. The second aspect faced during the meeting was also related to the next activity of the end users whom will install a pilot plant in their power plant for evaluating the membrane modules performances in real conditions. In the Nanoglowa project the ITM-CNR has the responsibility of the “central testing laboratory” of the membranes prepared by other partners devoted to the membrane development. Some membranes were tested in the last semester and new membranes will be supplied by partners in the next months for investigating their transport properties.

Napolynet, Ischia (Italy), May 12, 2010 The General Assembly Meeting after the 2nd year of the Coordination Support Action “NaPolyNet - Setting up research-intensive clusters across the EU on characterization of polymer nanostructures” was held on 12 May 2010 in Ischia. NaPolyNet represents a pilot initiative aiming at contributing to the identification of the key factors that

govern formation of ordered nanopatters in polymer-based hybrid systems. The meeting was hosted by the ICTP-CNR institute that is the coordinator of the project . After the welcome addressed to the participants by Cosimo Carfagna, the Director of ICTP-CNR, the description of second year of Activity of NaPolyNet, i.e., of the different Work Packages done and to be done in the 3rd year have been presented by Clara Silvestre, ICTP-CNR, the NaPolyNet Coordinator. An important objective of the overall project reached after the second year of activity was the mapping of the competences in the different fields of characteri-zation of polymer nanostructures. The second key point reached is the networking of the advanced equipment for nanomaterials characterization with the aim to set up an European Open Laboratory (EOL) open to outside the consortium partners incorporating the best and novel characterization methodologies and expertises. During the meeting partner Lenka Martinkova, of the industry INOTEX - Czech Republic, gave a communication on “ Nanosystems for function-alization of textiles“ .http://www.napolynet.eu/

Future Events organized by ITM NanoMemCourse, Cetraro and Rende, 15 - 24 Sept. 2010 The EA3 NanoMemCourse on “Nano-structured materials and Membranes in the Food Industry” is the last of the NanoMemCourse series and it is organized by the Institute on Membrane Technology (ITM‐CNR). In particular, this course will analyze the state of the art and future needs for sustainable food production and processing aiming at achieving valuable co-products while avoiding the formation of by-products. The event will take place in Cetraro (Grand Hotel San Michele), where all participants will be accommodated, with some demonstration activities at the Institute of Membrane Technology located in Rende - CS (Italy) at University of Calabria from 15 to 24 September 2010. NanoMemCourse is a Marie Curie Conference and Training Courses Action.

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Workshop on Membrane Disti l lation, Ravello ( Italy), 2011

2010 China-EU Workshop, Weihai (China), 15 - 18 Nov. 2010 In order to strengthen the cooperation on membrane technology between China and European Countries and to promote the application and development of membrane in biology and medicine fields, the China-EU Workshop on Membrane Systems in Medicine, Artificial Organs and Regenerative Medicine is to be held at Weihai, China on 15-18 November 2010. The Workshop will be attended by experts and enterprise involved in membrane application fields. This event follows the consolidated tradition of China-EU conferences on membranes. In fact, five sessions have already been successfully held since 2004.

On early October 2011, ITM-CNR will organize a Workshop on Membrane Distillation and related Membrane Systems. This event will follow the first Conference on this subject held in Rome in 1986, organized by Prof. Enrico Drioli. At that time a small number of researchers attended the meeting and discussed with interest the basic aspects and potentialities of this new technology. Today membrane distillation is one of the most attractive new membrane operation very well related to the strategy of process intensification. It seems appropriate to have this time a real International event for expo ring reality and still potentialities of these systems. Participants from all around the world have already confirmed the interest to participate and to contribute.

Scientific Events of interest

BIT's 1st Annual World Congress of Well Stimulation & EOR, a focused event for upgrading the current advances in worldwide R&D of novel enhanced technology, was organised by BitPetroBio, a company established in Dalian (China). Worldwide experts including industrial leaders in the various fields from basic petroleum microbiology, microorganisms, indigenous microbes, biomaterials, enzymes to engineering technology, oil recovery, etc. discussed recent results also with young researchers. Specific attention was devoted to biofuel industry, upgrading of petroleum and its derivates also considering membranes as one of the most promising technology for contributing to improve conversion, separations, and energy and process efficiency. Chengdu, the former capital of China at the time of five dynasties was venue nice venue of the conference. It is close to the Tibet and park of Pandas, animals protected by WWF since there are extinguishing.

WSEOR-2010, Chengdu (China), April 12-16, 2010

The NanoMemCourse EA2: Nanostructured materials and membranes for Health and Sustainable Water was organized by the University of Twente, Enschede, (NL). It was held from April 7 to April 16 2010. The aim of the course is to offer relevant education on the use of membranes and/or nanomaterials in the field of health and sustainable water. Young researchers and engineers with background in material science and/or membrane science related to health and sustainable water attended the course. International experts discussed about basic concepts, perspectives and applications of membranes in water treatment and health. After the lectures there was an interactive sessions between participants and lectures. An important time for young researchers was the preparation of short research proposal in group basis. That was a good experience to

exchange ideas, learn new concepts, and establish relationships for future collaborations. Two excursions were held during the course: one to discover the Open Air Museum and know more about the Dutch culture and the other one of the most famous Dutch brewery!!!

NanoMemCourse EA2, Twente (The Netherlands), 7 - 16 April 2010

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Arsenic can be considered as a powerful poison and it has been recently reported as one of the largest environmental calamity in Asia. This led to rediscovery of arsenic despite it always exists in the environmental as a “silent” toxin in the world. Every year, new areas with arsenic in environemts overcoming the limits set by international organization are identified. This brought to organise a specific conference on this topic, and, on 17 - 21 May 2010, the Third International Congress on Arsenic in the Environemt As 2010 (http://www.as2010tainan.com.tw) with the theme of “Arsenic in Geosphere and Human Diseases” has been held at the National Cheng kung University, Tainan city, Taiwan. More than 150 partecipants attended the conference and the topics covered have been grouped under different sections: a) Geology, hydrology and hydrogeology of arsenic, b) Ecological effects, c) Arsenic in marine and terrestrial ecosystems, d) Health effect on humans, e) Toxicological effects, f) Assessment and Remediation of arsenic-contaminated groundwater and land enviroments, policy and protection, g) Analytical methods, h) Special topics: i) Arsenic in rise, ii) arsenic in latin America. Over 300 extended abstracts have been submitted and have been collected in a proceding book, Arsenic in Geosphere and Human Diseases, CRC press (ISBN 978-0-415-57898-1), In particular, in the “As Remediation sections”, many works have been presented maily referring to adsorbents methods and membrane techniques. In the second case, the majority of the studies referred to the use of reverse osmosis and nanofiltration processes. Dr. Alberto Figoli from ITM-CNR partecipated at this conference and reported the results on microbeads preparation by membrane process and arsenic adsorption. The partecipation at this specific conference was of particular interest since it underlined that all the research presented is not only of academic interest but can actively contribute to the prevention or reduction of exposure to arsenic and its toxic effects for millions of people in the world.

Conference on Arsenic in the Environment, Tainan (Taiwan), 17-21 May 2010

The highest-level conference on desalination-2010 Asia-Pacific Desalination Conference was held on June 23, 2010. Experts and scholars from ten countries and areas gathered in Qingdao and attended this conference, discussing how to promote the development of ocean economic, enhancing the protection of ocean environment and discussing the developing plan of the blue ocean. This conference was sponsored by China Association for Science and Technology and Qingdao Municipal People's Government and its theme was “Desalination and the Sustainable Development”. The ITM- CNR has been listed as one of the organizations sponsoring the event. After the opening ceremony, the keynote speeches were following which was chaired by Mr. Zhou Guangzhao former vice chairman of NPC Standing Committee, Honorary Chairman

of China Association for Science and Chinese Academy of Sciences. Four experts delivered their reports in the morning. Meanwhile, there was also a desalination hot spot discussion on policy, the price of water, long distance water supply and environmental protection. This conference lasted for three days, nearly 80 experts from home and abroad delivered their speeches on nine topics, that was overview and prospects of the regional water issues, innovation of device and fittings, materials of thermal desalination, the latest developments of pretreatment, the research and development of desalination membrane materials, thermal desalination process, innovative water reuse technology, membrane desalination process and the development of water treatment chemicals. This conference also issued a proceedings < 2010 Asia-Pacific Desalination Conference Proceedings> which included more than 70 papers and this was a great treasure for desalination industry. Asia-Pacific Desalination Conference was held in Qingdao for 6 times and has gained great help from Asia-Pacific Desalination Association, European Desalination Society, American Membrane Technology Association and some national associations and societies. Cooperating with the highest-level international and the most influential organizations and aiming at researching the policies, plans and projects in China or even the Asia-Pacific region, so that the conference will supply a platform for the cooperation in desalination, economy, society, culture, law and finance.

2010 Asia-Pacific Desalination Conference, Qingdao (China), June 23, 2010

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Istituto per la Tecnologia delle Membrane (ITM-CNR) Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche

Via P. Bucci 17/C c/o University of Calabria 87030 Rende (CS) - Italy Ph.: +39 0984 492050/402706, Fax: +39 0984 402103 www.itm.cnr.it

The ITM Newsletter is a biannual publication created by: Prof. Enrico Drioli Ph.: +39 0984 492039, e-mail: e.drioli@itm.cnr.it Edited by: Maria A. Liberti Ph.: +39 0984 492007, e-mail: m.liberti@itm.cnr.it