Membrane science and technology have shown an impressive growth since the early 1960s with the discovery of an effective method for the preparation of asymmetric cellulose acetate membranes. Membrane technology is now recognized for a number of advantages such as operational simplicity, low energetic requirements, good stability under a wide range of operative conditions, easy control and scale-up, and large flexibility. With the increasing understanding and development of membrane techniques, it became possible to integrate various operations with the purpose to improve performance in terms of product quality, plant compactness, environmental impact, and energy use. Hybrid or integrated membrane processes can be classified into several categories. In some processes, adsorption or reaction may be included in the membrane itself, like in membrane reactors, ion-exchange membranes, adsorptive membranes, and others. Other hybrid or integrated membrane processes combine several membrane separation steps, one step being dependent on the former one, in a multistage configuration. Finally, membrane filtration may be associated with other unit operations like adsorption on activated carbon or ion-exchange resins. This book is split into two parts. The first part covers several examples of integrated membrane systems and processes in the water, food, biotechnology, and pharmaceutical fields. Chapter 1 (Charcosset) reviews and discusses processes based on the integration of ultrafiltration, microfiltration, nanofiltration, reverse osmosis, and other membrane processes such as membrane distillation and membrane bioreactors. Examples of seawater desalination, wastewater treatment, and separation in biotechnology and food industries are also given. Chapter 2 (Ghosh) reviews developments in the area of integrated membrane process for bioseparations. By using integrated membrane processes, the number of separation steps required for purification of biological macromolecules such as
