From academia to industry: Success criteria for upscaling nanofiltration membranes for water and solvent applications

Nanofiltration (NF) is an established membrane technology to purify aqueous streams. In addition, there is a strong driving force to recycle and recover used solvents and dissolved compounds in industry. Solvent resistant nanofiltration (SRNF) and solvent tolerant nanofiltration (STNF), two young but highly promising membrane-based separation technologies, represent an economical and environment-friendly solution to this need. However, there exists a significant gap between academic research and industrial implementation of these technologies. This critical review addresses the challenges that need to be overcome to facilitate industrial valorization of academic breakthroughs by disclosing the so-called evaluator chart. This chart comprises industrial operating conditions, long-term performance, capital expenditures (CAPEX) and operational expenditures (OPEX) analysis, membrane module manufacturing, toxicity, and waste management. It is applied here to the state-of-the-art NF and SRNF membranes developed in academia to assess their industrial potential. To further direct future research towards industrial scale, invention trends in SRNF in both academia and industry from 2015 to 2020 are highlighted.