Message from the Co-chair
Welcome to this second edition of the Membrane Society of Australasia Newsletter. Our first edition was emailed out in December 2008 to a wide audience and received a great response, so we are now aiming to produce at least four editions per year. If you'd like to read a previous newsletter, you can always find them at the MSA website. If you have any material you'd like included, or have any comments about this newsletter, please send us an email.
Bradley Ladewig - Co-chair of the Inaugural Board
Membrane Society of Australasia Update
The MSA continues to grow rapidly since it's inception late last year. A board meeting was convened by teleconference on Tuesday 27 January, the minutes of which will soon be available on the MSA website. On the 14th of January 2009, the society was formally registered with the Australian Securities and Investment Commission as a public company, limited by guarantee.
The society welcomed Siemens as its first corporate member.
The society has now begun circulating official membership forms, and encourages you to spread the word amongst your colleagues and encourage them to join. You can obtain membership forms by contacting Ludovic Dume (Secretary) by email.
AMS-5 abstract deadline extended
The abstract deadline for the Fifth Conference of the Aseanian Membrane Society has been extended to 28 February, 2009.
This conference will be held in Kobe, Japan from 12 - 14 July, 2009 and we strongly encourage Australasian reseachers to submit abstracts and register to attend this conference. For further information and online abstract submission see the conference website.
Events
Advances in Materials and Processes for Polymeric Membrane Mediated Water Purification
22 - 25 February 2009
Asilomar Conference Centre, Pacific Grove, CA, USA.
Oz Water 09
16 - 18 March 2009
Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre, Melbourne, Australia.
7th International Conference on Membrane Science & Technology (MST 2009)
12 - 15 May 2009
Corus Hotel, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Conference and Exhibition on DESALINATION FOR THE ENVIRONMENT: Clean Water and Energy
17 - 20 May 2009
Kongresshaus, Baden Baden, Germany
EcoForum Conference & Exhibition
28 - 30 April 2009
Australian Technology Park, Sydney, Australia.
Advanced Membrane Technology 2009
7 - 12 June 2009
Trondheim, Norway.
NAMS 2009
19th Annual Meeting of the North American Membrane Society
20 - 24 June, 2009
Charleston, SC, USA.
Singapore International Water Week Water Convention 2009
23 - 25 June 2009, Singapore.
6th Leading Edge Conference on Water and Wastewater Technologies
23 - 25 June 2009.
This conference will be organized in Singapore as part of the Singapore International Water Week 2009.
Fifth Conference of the Aseanian Membrane Society (AMS-5)
12 - 14 July, 2009
Kobe, Japan
5th IWA Specialized Membrane Technology Conference for Water and Wastewater Treatment
1 - 3 September 2009
Beijing, China.
Euromembrane 2009
6 - 10 September, 2009
Montpellier, France.
7th IWA World Congress on Water Reclamation and Reuse
20 - 25 September 2009
Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre, Brisbane, Australia.
Membranes: Materials & Processes
Gordon Research Conference
25 - 30 July, 2010
Colby-Sawyer College, New London, NH, USA.
Research Spotlight
The membrane bioreactor (MBR) can no longer be considered as a novel process. This reliable and efficient technology has become a legitimate alternative to conventional activated sludge processes and an option of choice for many domestic and industrial applications. More background information on MBR is available from Wikipedia (page edited by UNSWs researchers) and in the recent review "Fouling in membrane bioreactors used in wastewater treatment" published in the Journal of Membrane Science (vol 284, 2006, pp 17-53).
At UNSW, the UNESCO Centre for Membrane Science and Technology investigates many aspects of the MBR operation, maintenance and optimisation. Some of these studies are based on the collaboration with the Water Research Centre (School of Civil and Environmental Engineering). Current studies include operation of anaerobic MBR, direct observation of MBR fouling, advanced characterisation of MBR fouling by analysis of its fouling layers, evaluation of membrane bioreactor performance via residence time distribution analysis and process modelling Check their website for more details about MBR projects.
Would you like your research group or company in the spotlight? Send us the details and we'll feature your work in an upcoming edition of MSA E-News.
