Review and Perspectives on the Role of Microwaves in Membrane Processes

Membrane (MB) processes facilitate operations in a number of fields, including separation, concentration, water purification, distillation, and solvent recycling. However, MB treatments can be limited by MB fouling, blockage, and wetting, as well as by high energy requirements. The incorporation of microwave (MW) irradiation into MB processes can mitigate these drawbacks and thereby broaden their fields of application, for example, contaminant removal, permeability enhancement, catalytic synthesis, and degradation. This comprehensive review aims to enable a deeper understanding of the role MW plays in MB treatments, identify research gaps, and inspire future studies. The applications of combined MW and MB processes in distillation, contaminant removal, microorganism inactivation, permeation enhancement, extraction, and esterification have been reviewed herein, together with a presentation of mechanisms, main results, and future perspectives. Although there are some controversial areas regarding the role of MW, its accepted benefits are undoubtedly attractive. Considering the limited number of publications and the benefits of MB and MW techniques, this field is expected to have broad prospects.