Resources
Glossary.
Plain-language definitions.
The membrane separation and industrial fabrication terms that come up most in our project conversations. Useful for procurement, plant management, and anyone briefing a CAPEX committee.
- ASME 'U' / 'U2' / 'R'
- ASME code stamps. 'U' authorizes new pressure-vessel fabrication to Section VIII Div. 1; 'U2' authorizes alternative-rules construction to Section VIII Div. 2 for higher-design-stress work; 'R' authorizes repair and alteration. Petro Sep holds all four at its Kerteh (Malaysia) fabrication shop: 'U', 'U2', 'R', and the 'NB' (National Board) stamp. Toronto (Mississauga) handles membrane production, engineering, and R&D, not code-stamped pressure-vessel work.
- Azeotrope
- A liquid mixture whose vapor has the same composition as the liquid, so distillation alone cannot separate it past a fixed point. Example: ethanol and water at 95.6% ethanol. Pervaporation breaks azeotropes that distillation cannot.
- Code-stamped fabrication
- Fabrication performed under an authorized quality program (ASME, API, PED, etc.) where the resulting nameplate carries an inspectable stamp. Required for most pressure equipment in oil and gas, chemical, and power.
- Containerized pilot
- A pilot-scale separation system packaged inside a shipping container so it can be trucked to a customer's site and operated on real feed for weeks or months before scale-up.
- FAT / SAT
- Factory Acceptance Test (FAT) is run in the shop before shipping; Site Acceptance Test (SAT) is run after installation. Petro Sep runs both, with the customer present where required.
- GMP
- Good Manufacturing Practice. The pharmaceutical quality regime. GMP-grade equipment carries documentation (IQ/OQ/PQ), traceable materials, and validation support.
- MD (Membrane Distillation)
- Thermally driven membrane separation that uses a hydrophobic porous membrane to allow water vapor to cross while liquid stays back. Handles feeds that defeat both RO and conventional distillation.
- Pervaporation (PV)
- Liquid-feed, vapor-permeate membrane separation. Used for dehydrating organic solvents past their azeotropes and for selective VOC recovery.
- PV vs VP
- Pervaporation feeds liquid to the membrane; vapor permeation feeds vapor. Same dense membrane chemistry, different upstream conditions. Petro Sep designs hybrids when both make sense.
- Reject brine / RO reject
- The concentrate stream from a reverse-osmosis system. Usually 6 to 8% TDS, often hard or impossible to dispose of compliantly. VMD and MD take this stream much further.
- Section IX
- The ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code section that qualifies welders and welding procedures. Our Kerteh (Malaysia) shop carries Section IX qualifications for the materials we use.
- SLS (Solid-Liquid Separation)
- Pressure-driven membrane filtration: microfiltration, ultrafiltration, nanofiltration, reverse osmosis. Pore-size selective. Used as a pretreatment to membrane distillation when solids are present.
- TDS (Total Dissolved Solids)
- The total mass of dissolved salts and minerals per unit volume of water. RO works to roughly 6 to 8% TDS; VMD and MD operate well past 20%.
- Turnkey
- A project delivery model where one contractor owns the scope end to end: engineering, fabrication, installation, commissioning. Petro Sep's default.
- VMD (Vacuum Membrane Distillation)
- Membrane distillation operated under vacuum on the permeate side. The basis of our AQUA-SEP® platform. Handles high-TDS feeds and complex chemistries.
- VP (Vapor Permeation)
- Vapor-feed, vapor-permeate membrane separation. Used for solvent dehydration of vapor streams and for VOC recovery from process exhaust.
- ZLD (Zero Liquid Discharge)
- A water-treatment design philosophy where no liquid effluent leaves the site. Combines membrane concentration with crystallization. Required by some jurisdictions and increasingly common in mining and refining.
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