LCA for Membrane Processes

This chapter presents an overview of the current state of the art concerning the application of life cycle assessment (LCA) to assess and improve the environmental performance and sustainability of processes that use or are based on membrane technologies. A presentation of the LCA methodology is made, based on the current framework defined by the ISO Standard, focusing on the main aspects and how LCA can be applied to a given product or process system. A review of the available studies was done for membrane based or systems in which membranes have an important role, focusing in water treatment process, either for human and industrial application or wastewater treatment. The analysis shows that the application of LCA is still limited in membrane process, and more work still needs to be done, for example, taking into account the manufacture and final disposal/recycling of the membranes and their corresponding process modules, and to properly asses how membranes may increase the sustainability of existing processes by replacing existing technologies with larger environmental impact. As the need to evaluate the environmental impact and sustainability of new processes increases, the application of the LCA methodology will become more common both in process design and/or process operation.