ABOUT THE CONFERENCE
 

Organiser:

IMSTEC 2025 is organised by Membrane Society of Australasia (MSA) and ARC Research Hub for Energy-Efficient Separation (ARC-EESep).

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Date:

8 - 11 December 2025 (Monday - Thursday)

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Venue:

Crowne Plaza Surfers Paradise, 2807 Gold Coast Highway, Surfers Paradise, Queensland 4217, Australia

Key Themes:

1. Circular design and engineering of membranes

• Proposed to focus on sustainable technologies, chemistries, and materials processing routes towards a circular economy

• What does the industry need? 

• How can afterlife of membranes be integrated in the design and operation?

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2. Crossing the gap with the new normal – separation to support societies recovery

• Supporting biosecurity efforts

• Integration of membranes and potential in air traffic protection

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3. Vision 2030 – where next?

• Proposed to have series of visionary talks on where the field should go. 

• Errors not to repeat. Habits to change. 

• Crossing the gender gap. 

• How to further collaborations globally and in Asia and Pacific especially.

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Topics:

1. Applications of membranes

• industry – case studies and experience (needs, challenges)

• water treatment (purification, desalination)

• gas separation (carbon capture, biogas upgrading)

• energy storage and utilization (batteries, hydrogen generation, CO2 conversion)

• specific resource recovery (ultra-selective membranes and strategies)

• biotechnology (bio-refinery and fuel production)

• atmospheric capture of water and humidifiers

• air separation (particle matter, viruses)

• food security and food processing

• microfluidics and membranes for small batch separation

• industrial usages textiles, chemical and pharmaceutical industries

• biological and healthcare applications of membranes (cell separation, virus removal, nutrient or resource recovery)

• integration of advanced applications in future materials and devices (biosensors, electrochemical devices)

• space applications of membranes (low gravity applications)

2. Membrane processes

• pressure driven filtration (MF, UF, NF, RO)

• activity driven separation (FO, dialysis) 

• electrically driven separation (electrolysis, capacitive deionisation)

• thermal separation (membrane distillation)

• crystallization strategies (membrane crystallization)

• membrane bio-reactors

• membrane contactors (emulsification, liquid/liquid contactors)

• catalytic membrane reactors

• liquid membrane reactors

• integrated or hybrid membrane processes

• general mass transfer

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3. Membrane operation and modules design

• module and configuration design

• fluid dynamics

• membrane reactors design (bioreactors, catalytic/photocatalytic membrane reactors)

• fouling and cleaning strategies

• circular re-engineering of used membranes and modules

4. Membrane materials

• inorganic membranes (ceramic membranes, metallic membranes)

• carbon membranes

• membranes from carbon-based or 2D/1D materials)

• polymeric membranes

• ion-conducting polymer/hybrid membranes

• mixed matrix membranes

• stimuli and smart responsive membranes

• nanostructured membranes

• circular design of membranes

5. Advanced membrane characterization techniques

• non-destructive porous properties characterization techniques

• mixed matrix membranes characterization

• complex transport phenomena determination

• application of novel surface properties evaluation 

• techniques for fouling and scaling evaluation

• membrane autopsy of aged membranes

6. Separation modelling and simulation

• molecular simulations of membrane structure to performance relationships

• modelling transport across membranes and modules

• modelling and simulation of membrane systems

• modelling and prediction of general membrane performance

7. Democratization of separation science

• humanitarian applications of membranes

• low cost membrane systems and locally designed systems