Desalination by biomimetic aquaporin membranes: Review of status and prospects

Based on their unique combination of offering high water permeability and high solute rejection aquaporin proteins have attracted considerable interest over the last years as functional building blocks of biomimetic membranes for water desalination and reuse. The purpose of this review is to provide an overview of the properties of aquaporins, their preparation and characterization. We discuss the challenges in exploiting the remarkable properties of aquaporin proteins for membrane separation processes and we present various attempts to construct aquaporin in membranes for desalination; including an overview of our own recent developments in aquaporin-based membranes. Finally we outline future prospects of aquaporin based biomimetic membrane for desalination and water reuse.

► Aquaporin proteins may be used in biomimetic membranes for water treatment.
► We discuss the challenges in using aquaporin membranes for separation processes.
► We present various attempts to use aquaporins in membranes for desalination.
► We give an overview of our own recent developments in aquaporin-based membranes.
► We outline future prospects of aquaporin based biomimetic membranes.