Transport of multicomponent ionic solutions in membrane systems

Abstract

In this paper a set of phenomenological equations are derived for the transport of ionic solution and ionic species in a multicomponent solution through a membrane. The present study shows that, in addition to the conventional hydrostatic and osmotic pressures, there is an additional driving force generated by the gradient of electrostatic potential which is caused due to different ionic species having different membrane coefficients. This electrical potential gradient vanishes when the membrane coefficients for each species are identical.