The Membrane Process Engineering (GPM) department is composed of 12 permanent staff, i.e. 5 professors (PR), 7 assistant professors (MCF) and one CNRS senior researcher (DR). Among the assistant professors, seven belong to the Polytech component of University of Montpellier (UM-Polytech), three to the Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Chimie de Montpellier (ENSCM), one to the IUT de Montpellier-Sète (UM-IUT chimie), one to the Faculté des Sciences de l’UM (UM-Fac de Science). To date, the department also has 9 doctoral students and 2 post-doctoral fellows.
Permanent staff
HERAN M. (PR 62, UM-Polytech), leader
BELLEVILLE M.-P. (MCF, Polytech), BOUYER D. (PR, UM-Fac de Science), BROSILLON S. (PR, UM-Polytech), BOCQUET-DRUON S. (MCF, ENSCM), FAUR C. (PR, UM-Polytech), LESAGE G. (MCF, UM-IUT chimie), MENDRET J. (MCF, UM-Polytech), MERICQ J.-P. (MCF, UM-Polytech), PAOLUCCI D. (PR, ENSCM), SANCHEZ-MARCANO J. (DR CNRS), SOUSSAN L. (MCF, ENSCM), ZAVISKA F. (MCF, UM-Polytech)
Research thematics
The general approach of the GPM department is based on a global, integrated and multi-scale approach to membranes, ranging from the engineering of membrane materials to the development and optimisation of hybrid and/or multifunctional membrane processes, in response to today’s major societal challenges: water treatment and reuse, health, energy and agri-food.
This approach is based on a multi-scale methodology based on:
- the development of characterisation tools, whether conventional (relating to effluents or membranes) or more original because developed on-line and in situ, to quantify transfer speeds and reactions and to validate mathematical models;
- the development of modelling tools to simulate (i) the dynamics of morphogenesis on the scale of a membrane under development, (ii) coupled transfer phenomena (matter, heat) on the scale of a membrane module in the case of membrane contactors, (iii) biological reactions within an effluent treatment pilot reactor;
- the use of laboratory experimental systems of different scales to analyse and quantify the performance of membrane materials within processes of varying complexity, optimised with regard to the usage properties and expected functionalities of the processed products or membranes developed.
Sharing this common scientific approach, five major themes have been identified in the Department:
- Membranes and biological reactions
- Polymer membrane engineering
- Membranes and physico-chemical processes
- Membranes and oxidation
- Membrane contactors
