Quick Dips

Smart Separations

"Smart" membranes, which will permit selective separation of components from agricultural products for use in speciality food or pharmaceutical products, are being developed by Industrial Research Limited. As well as being able to selectively extract target components, processors could also remove unwanted colours, flavours or other contaminants.

One application is testing a new system that works like the transport mechanism of a living cell. It can adsorb selected components on one side of the membrane and concentrate them at the other side. This technology has been tested for removing the organic acids that cause bitterness in kiwifruit juice, without removing the fruits ascorbic acid (better known as Vitamin C) at the same time.

Another membrane technology being developed is based on a class of materials called conducting polymers. These are plastics which conduct electricity and which can be made to selectively "pump" contaminating trace metals from solutions such as wine, or to extract valuable metals such as lithium from waste geothermal bore waters or potassium from wool scour liquor.