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About
Opportunities
Equipment
People
Projects
About
Membrane Laboratory
Norwegian University of Life Sciences
About
Membrane Laboratory at NMBU advances artificial membranes and separation processes to secure clean water and sustainable Critical Raw Materials.
Mechanistic understanding of membrane transport
Trade-off between selectivity and productivity of artificial membranes and separation processes
Optimal design of membrane modules and systems
We develop membrane‑based solutions that mitigate the impacts of climate change, help meet increasingly stringent water and environmental regulations, and enable the sustainable supply of Critical Raw Materials.
Membrane Laboratory conducts research at the intersection of Interface and Colloid Science, Separation Process Engineering, and Data Science.
Membrane Laboratory focuses on:
Research Areas
Membrane Laboratory collaborates with physicists and data scientists to combine analytical theory and numerical simulations with our experiments and machine learning. Physical models and simulations guide our experimental work and inform data-driven models.
Electromembrane processes
Diafiltration of ions of critical metals
Physicochemical hydrodynamics of multi-ion membrane transport
Osmotically-driven membrane processes
Cognitive analytics of membrane filtration performance
Electrophoretic separation in composite membranes
Electrochemical oxidation of organofluorine compounds in membrane reactors
Sustainable membranes
Membrane transport
Projects
see previous projects
Infrastructure project under development
MemCentre
Membrane centre for sustainable water
2021 - 2027, FHI
Intelligent membrane systems for reserve water supply
IntelMem
2020 - 2025, RCN
AECo
Advancing electrochemical processes for water safety and circularity
2025 - 2029, RCN
Tunable ion separations with micro-structured composite membranes
TIES
2015 - 2018, RCN-Innovation Norway
CE-MBR
Development of chemically enhanced membrane biological reactor
HumusTek
New technology for purification of NOM-containing water for reserve water supply
2016 - 2018, RCN
2017 - 2024, RCN
International partnership on membrane processes in water treatment for research and educational excellence
MEMPREX
IntelMem
2020 - 2023, RCN-DAAD
Intelligent nanofiltration membrane systems for natural organic matter removal in water treatment
Researchers
Membrane Laboratory is an interdisciplinary research team of chemical and environmental engineers, data scientists, and separation process engineers.
Research students and fellows
Membrane Laboratory cultivates the next generation of membrane technology professionals by training doctoral and master’s students and hosting visiting researchers and exchange students through the Water Harmony network, which includes 100 universities across 54 countries.
Doctorate students
Alumni
Fanjing Meng
Electrochemical oxidation of organofluoride micropollutants in membrane reactors
2022 - 2026
Cognitive analytics of gravity- and pressure-driven membrane separation
Anura Arembage
2024 - 2028
Flux enhancers in biofilm membrane bioreactors: insight into fouling control
Olga Kulesha
2016 - 2019
Alumni
Indra Adhikari
Analytics of nanofiltration performance
Jonas Handeland
Experimental characterisation of membrane transport
2026-2027
Anuruddhika Dewage
Multidimensional spectroscopy for control of nanofiltration
2026-2027
2026-2027

Master's students

2017
Dawit Zigta
Testing Aluminium based chemicals for fouling reduction in membrane bioreactor
Anura Arembage
Operational Optimisation of Biofilm Membrane BioReactor (BMBR) for decentralised wastewater treatment
2018
Vladyslav Shostak
Comparison of treatment and fouling mitigation efficiency of organic and inorganic coagulants in biofilm membrane bioreactor
2019
Lars Rumohr Blingsmo and Leon Dokland
Advanced coagulation and membrane filtration treatment of effluent from high-rate MBBR
2019
Roman Kuzhel & Anastasiia Nehrii
Effects of electrochemical treatment of mixed liquor in submerged ceramic membrane bioreactor
2019
Hermann Krüger
Best thesis award 2025 by RIF
Transport characterisation of flat-sheet membranes for control of nanofiltration processes
Odin Seljestokken
Bipolar capacitive deionisation on carbonised nanoporous monoliths
2025
Gorm Walter Høili Pettersen
Nanofiltration of surface water with high organic content, focusing on reserve water supply in Halden municipality
2019
Oda Rydland & Stine Simonsen
2025
Opportunities, challenges, and operating cost of water treatment technology implementation for water supply in small communities
Philip Lein
2022
Electrochemical oxidation and UV-VIS quantification of per and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) for wastewater treatment
Amalie Brønmo
Effect-based assessment of by-products of electrocatalytic oxidation of PFAS
2025
Jothy Sathananthan & Jenny Gustavsen
Opportunities for water reuse by implementing MBR in Norway
2024, industrial economy
Asim Rasheed
2024
Data-driven strategies for managing natural organic matter in water supply
Alumni
Murilo Teles-Domingues
Physicochemical hydrodynamics of multi-ion transport through tubular nanofiltration membranes
University of Brasília, Brazil
2026-2027
Matheus Almeida Ferreira
Diafiltration preconcentration for enhanced electrooxidation of organic micropollutants
University of Brasília, Brazil
2025-2026

Visiting Researchers and Exchange Students

Charith Fonseka
2022
Data-driven control of natural organic matter treatment by nanofiltration. University Technology Sydney, Australia
Markus Lee
Ionomer Platinum-catalysts
University of Calgary, Canada
2025
Fernanda Gaioto
Transport characterisation of nanofiltration membranes
Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
2025-2026
Wesam Tork
2025
Electrospinning membranes
University of Calgary, Canada
Functional thin-film membranes for selective molecular and ionic separations
University of Notre Dame, USA
The Bruening Lab
Modelling the dynamics of electrolytes in porous electrodes
Norwegian University of Life Sciences
Theory of Electrochemical Systems group
Research cluster at the University of Calgary, Canada
Sathish Ponnurangam, Edward Roberts, Milana Trifkovic, Anne Benneker
Norwegian Partnership
“Membrane Centre for Sustainable Water”
Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), The Foundation for Industrial and Technical Research (SINTEF), Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA), Research Institute AquaTeam COWI, National Centre for Water Infrastructure (Vannsenteret)
Behaviour of fluids at nano-scale, ion transport through nanofiltration membranes, current-induced concentration polarisation of nano-/micro-interfaces
ICREA/Polytechnic University of Catalonia, Spain
Andriy Yaroshchuk
Partners
Industrial partners
See full list
Contact angle and drop shape analysis
Instrument: OCA 15EC
Cross-flow membrane filtration
in various membrane test cells.
Instrument: Sterlitech benchtop cross-flow filtration system with data logging kit and CF042 cells in acryl, PTFE, acetal, and die.
Capillary flow gas-liquid porometry and gas/liquid permeability
Pressure step stability method with multistage pressure process. Instrument: Porolux Revo porometer with measurement cells – flat sheet disks, hollow fiber.
Electrokinetic analysis of solid surfaces
Zeta potential analysis of macroscopic solids, isoelectric point, liquid-on-solid adsorption kinetics.
Instrument: Anton Paar SurPASS 3 with measurement cells – adjustable gap, ceramic membrane, hollow fiber membrane.

Experimental

Research infrastructure
Membrane Laboratory’s research infrastructure supports advanced experimentation and fosters interdisciplinary collaboration in membrane technology.
Intrinsic rejections of various solutes
Instrument: rotating membrane test cell with an equally-accessible surface of flat-sheet membrane.
Particle analysis
Zeta potential and electrophoretic mobility of particles by laser Doppler micro-electrophoresis.
Instrument: Malvern Zetasizer Z.

Particle charge analysis by streaming current method.
Instrument: Micrometrix PCA.

Particle-by-particle analysis by tunable resistive pulse sensing. Instrument: Izon qNano.
Imaging techniques
TEM, SEM, EDS, stereomicroscopy, CLSM, light microscopy (collective use facility).
Water analysis
Elemental analysis by ICP-MS.
Instrument: Agilent 8800 ICP-QQQ.

Absorbance, transmittance, and fluorescence excitation-emission-matrix (EEMs) acquisition
Instrument: Horiba Aqualog.

UV-VIS spectroscopy and discrete spectrophotometry
Various instruments

Ion chromatography
Instrument: Methrom

Real-time UV-VIS spectroscopy
Instrument: s::can spectrolyser

Total Oxygen Demand
Instrument: LAR TOD

Chemical Oxygen Demand by UV-AOP
Instrument: MANTECH PeCOD
Electrochemical tests
Voltamperometric techniques, Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy, pulsed techniques, stack experiments, corrosion techniques, ohmic drop determination.

Instrument: BioLogic VSP-3e potentiostat/galvanostat with eight channels (+/- 1A expandable up to 800A) and built-in electrochemical impedance spectroscopy.
Exploratory data analysis
Quantitative regression techniques
Supervised classification techniques
Artificial neural networks
Chemometrics in spectroscopy
Numerical simulations: single-physics, multiphysics, and surrogate modelling

Software: Python, MATLAB, Unscrambler, COMSOL Multiphysics, StatEase DesignExpert, OriginLab, Orange Canvas

Data driven & simulations

Student exchange: Erasmus+
Internships: IAESTE
Research students
Mentorship of MSc students
Topics for research students
PhD candidates
Industrial PhD scholarships
Public sector PhD scholarships
Cooperation agreements
Postdoctoral fellowships: Postdoctoral Masterclass (MSCA PF)
Researchers
Opportunities
The Membrane Laboratory supports the professional development of researchers and research students.
Contact
Acknowledgements
European Commission
DAAD
NMBU Strategic Infrastructure and Young Talent grants
FHI
RCN