A detailed study has been made of synthetic membrane separation technology application and research in Ireland. The report recommends that a membrane technology network-of-excellence (similar to the Enterprise Ireland/IDA competence-centre model) should be established to address the current gaps. This network should be industry led, composed of multiple existing research institutions and provide a full spectrum of services from research through technology transfer, consultancyand training. It is not possible to quantify the gains with any level of confidence, except in the water sector, where a conservative estimate is that if Ireland were to gain 0.5% of a lower estimate of $2 billion for the global market it would be equivalent to a national gain of $10 million per annum. Efficiency gains equivalent to this might also be achieved by diverse technology users or niche application development in other sectors. This membrane technology network-of-excellence will not naturally arise or evolve from within industry end-users as decision-making control is located abroad. Thus it needs to be initiated and driven by centralized economic policy groups (Enterprise Ireland/IDA).

Ireland lags far behind leading membrane technology centres or clusters around the world. The current level of activity and focus is not sufficient to have a significant impact, leading to a loss of business opportunities and weakening of the support structure for existing business. There is little end-user expertise in membrane technology; little evidence of technology transfer between different sectors using membrane technology; and while pockets of research expertise exist, they are fragmented across at least eight institutions).

The greatest potential lies in the water, pharmaceutical and food and beverage sectors. Water, which includes both water supply and wastewater treatment, is the largest sector of membrane application, and is likely to have the largest growth rate. Applications for membranes in classic active pharmaceutical ingredient manufacturing may be niche and only emerging, but, in contrast, membranes are integral to biopharmaceutical processing. The food and beverage sector has used membrane separations for many years and the potential here lies in deepening its use. Applications in other sectors are niche and there is no cross-cutting potential.

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Duffy, N.   "Industrial Applications of Membrane Technology in Ireland: A Review". Associated datasets and digitial information objects connected to this resource are available at: Secure Archive For Environmental Research Data (SAFER) managed by Environmental Protection Agency Ireland https://eparesearch.epa.ie/safer/resource?id=9b00f536-2da9-102e-a0a4-f81fb11d7d1c (Last Accessed: 2024-12-14)

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SAFER-Data Display URL	https://eparesearch.epa.ie/safer/iso19115/display?isoID=187
Resource Keywords	Membrane separation, environmental technology, cleaner technology
EPA/ERTDI/STRIVE Project Code	2005-ET-MS-32-M3
EPA/ERTDI/STRIVE Project Theme	Environmental Technologies
Resource Availability:	Public-Open
Limitations on the use of this Resource	NONE
Number of Attached Files (Publicly and Openly Available for Download):	6
Project Start Date	Wednesday 1st February 2006 (01-02-2006)
Earliest Recorded Date within any attached datasets or digital objects	Tuesday 31st August 2010 (31-08-2010)
Most Recent Recorded Date within any attached datasets or digital objects	Saturday 31st July 2010 (31-07-2010)
Published on SAFER	Wednesday 20th October 2010 (20-10-2010)
Date of Last Edit	Thursday 26th May 2011 at 14:05:09 (26-05-2011)
Datasets or Files Updated On	Thursday 26th May 2011 at 14:05:09 (26-05-2011)

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Description of Geographical Characteristics of This Project or Dataset
Implementation of membrane separation processes in Ireland, in the context of international practice.

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• Preparation of Polymer-Based Membranes for Dehydration of Ethanol by Pervaporation View Full Metadata Description

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