Sidney Loeb
Encyclopedia
Sidney Loeb was the chemical engineer who made reverse osmosis
(ro) practical by developing, together with Srinivasa Sourirajan, semi-permeable anisotropic membranes. Loeb invented the power generating process pressure retarded osmosis (pro) and the method of producing power by a reverse electrodialysis heat engine, among other inventions in related fields.
Loeb earned his M.Sc. (1959) and Ph.D. (1964) degrees from the University of California at Los Angeles. It was in the course of his M.Sc. thesis research that the Loeb-Sourirajan membrane breakthrough was achieved.
In 1967 Loeb came to Beersheva to teach RO technology at the Negev Institute for Arid Zone Research, later incorporated into the Institutes for Applied Research of the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU). Loeb stayed in Beersheva three years, left, and later accepted a half time teaching and half time research position as Professor of Chemical Engineering at the newly established BGU. For 15 years at BGU Loeb carried out research and taught membrane processes, desalination, and other subjects, and retired in 1986. It was at BGU that Loeb invented pressure retarded osmosis and the method of producing power by a reverse electrodialysis heat engine.
Reverse osmosis
Reverse osmosis is a membrane technical filtration method that removes many types of large molecules and ions from solutions by applying pressure to the solution when it is on one side of a selective membrane. The result is that the solute is retained on the pressurized side of the membrane and...
(ro) practical by developing, together with Srinivasa Sourirajan, semi-permeable anisotropic membranes. Loeb invented the power generating process pressure retarded osmosis (pro) and the method of producing power by a reverse electrodialysis heat engine, among other inventions in related fields.
Loeb earned his M.Sc. (1959) and Ph.D. (1964) degrees from the University of California at Los Angeles. It was in the course of his M.Sc. thesis research that the Loeb-Sourirajan membrane breakthrough was achieved.
In 1967 Loeb came to Beersheva to teach RO technology at the Negev Institute for Arid Zone Research, later incorporated into the Institutes for Applied Research of the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU). Loeb stayed in Beersheva three years, left, and later accepted a half time teaching and half time research position as Professor of Chemical Engineering at the newly established BGU. For 15 years at BGU Loeb carried out research and taught membrane processes, desalination, and other subjects, and retired in 1986. It was at BGU that Loeb invented pressure retarded osmosis and the method of producing power by a reverse electrodialysis heat engine.