Journal of Membrane Science 339 (2009) 14
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Journal of Membrane Science
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/memsci
Letters to the Editor
Sidney Loeb collection
The Journal of Membrane Science publishes Letters to the
Editor infrequentlythe journal has always focused on archival
publication of scientic and technical advances in the eld of
membrane science and technology. The current issue of the journal
has seven letters that were submitted in response to my invitation
to the community to offer their personal perspectives on Sidney
Loeb who recently passed away. These Letters are well worth your
reading. Sidney Loeb was truly one of the fathers of membrane
sciencethese letters provide a wonderful reminiscence and fas-
cinating insights into Sidneys life and wide-ranging contributions.
Andrew Zydney
Editor-in-Chief
I rst met Sid Loeb in the fall of 1960. Earlier that year, the group
he was working with in the Chemical Engineering Department at
UCLA had published an interim report, UCLA 60-60, describing
some work they had carried out in the then new eld of reverse
osmosis. They had achieved some very promising results using a
new RO membrane that Sid and his co-worker Srinavasa Souri-
rajan had invented. Using simulated seawater in an RO unit they
had devised and built, they achieved water uxes of 10 gallons per
square foot of membrane area per day, with salt rejections of over
98%.
That report found its way to the director of research at the com-
pany where I was employed at the time, General Atomic Co. in San
Diego, CA. The report was passed around our lab and it elicited
enough interest in my boss at the time, Ulrich Merten, that he
suggested that we go to UCLA and check it out.
And so it was that my co-worker, Bob Riley, and I drove up to Los
Angeles to visit Sid and his lab. We were total strangers but Sid was
more than gracious, and he demonstrated for us how he made the
0376-7388/$ see front matter 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.memsci.2009.05.001
great new membrane, and how he tested it in his RO apparatus. He
also initiated what turned into a lifelong friendship.
Sid was then a 43-year-old graduate student in chemical engi-
neering. He knew he had a breakthrough on his handsthere was
even talk in the Los Angeles newspapers of making the deserts
bloom with RO. While that still has not happened, RO has become
a huge industry, and the breakthrough in membrane technology
has spawned an entirely new membrane industry, reaching into all
aspects of membrane technology. My friend, Tony Fane, recently
retired from the University of New South Wales in Sydney, has
shared with me some marketing data that he has assembled. The
combined membrane industry market worldwide now totals some
$8.3 billion (U.S.) annually, with $3.0 billion coming from the water
treatment industry, $3.5 billion from biomedical applications, and
more than $1 billion from other applications.
What the world found out later was that the Loeb team
had made a kind of composite membrane, with an extremely
thin skin and a micro-porous substructure. That invention led
to numerous related inventions, including John Cadottes inter-
facially polymerized thin lm composite membrane. It is no
exaggeration to say that Sid is the father of modern membrane
technology.
Sid remained active in the membrane eld for the rest of his
life, even well beyond retirement. When I started the Journal of
Membrane Science in 1975, Sid was an original member of the edi-
torial board, and he remained on the board throughout my tenure as
editor. He even contributed two papers to Volume 1 of the Journal.
But Sid also became a good and trusted friend. I knew him to
be a gentle and even humble man, in spite of his accomplishments
and awards. He always believed in the importance of shared knowl-
edge for the advancement of science and technology. While he and
Sourirajan received a U.S. Patent (No. 3,133,132) for their invention
in 1964, I do not believe that either of them (nor their university)
ever received a cent in royalties.
Sid emigrated to Israel in 1967, married his wife, Mickey, and
settled in Omer, near Beersheva. I once visited them there and they
insisted on putting me up for the night. Our phone conversations
have gone on for decades. And whenever he and Mickey visited the
West coast, we made it a point to share a meal, usually with old
friends Ulrich Merten, Bob Riley, and their wives.
One time, when we asked Sid to consult for us at Bend Research,
the company I co-founded in Oregon, we posed a tough technical
question to him. Never a ponticator, Sid responded, Ill tell you
what I think, but you should understand that some competent
people disagree with me. I will miss his candor, his humility, and
his friendship. Sids friends will be comforted to know that he died
peacefully in his sleep at age 91.
Harry Lonsdale
Founding Editor, Journal of Membrane Science
Sisters, Oregon
2 Letters to the Editor / Journal of Membrane Science 339 (2009) 14
Most if not all readers of the JMS are familiar with the Loeb-
Sourirajan Reverse Osmosis membrane and certainly with the term
Reverse Osmosis itself. For the younger readers Loeb-Sourirajan
may designate a membrane, not two people, and RO a well known
technical term and not a rather odd combination of words coined
as a consequence of a series of exciting and successful experiments.
For me these always were very real people.
In Prof. Sidney Loebs spirit, this is a moment to wish Prof. Souri-
rajan all the best for many years to come. Sid often talked about his
colleagues and never allowed anyone to mention his achievements
in RO without adding with Sourirajan.
Sid came to Israel about 40 years ago on a UNESCO mission and
with his usual energy he started immediately to build a RO desalina-
tion unit in kibbutz Yotveta, the second ever, following the Coalinga
plant. The casting of the asymmetric cellulose acetate membranes
was carried out in his lab and the 200 m3 of desalted water pro-
duced per day were received with amazement, joy, and caution,
but we all know what happened since.
Sid decided to stay in Israel, teaching and working at the Ben
Gurion University in Beer-Sheva, with his laboratory in the Institute
for Desert Research, where desalination already was an important
R&D topic. For some time the improvement of the cellulose acetate
membranes and ways for scaling-up the technology were his main
concern, but once he realized that industry was taking over and
new membranes were appearing he started to look for innovative
applications and initiated PRO, Power Retarded Osmosis. We have to
invest energy in order to separate salt from water, and hence should
be able to extract work from the mixing of salt and water. First esti-
mates showed that whenever large volumes of highly concentrated
solutions are available, valuable energy could be extracted: the
Dead Sea would be an interesting example. As always it turned out
that there are very real difculties: concentration polarization in
membranes built for RO and not PRO, the bringing together and han-
dling of the solutions, etc. Nevertheless Sid persisted, following his
conviction, and he saw considerable progress in the process, though
not on Dead Sea water with his local colleagues. He remained in
touch with some of the pilot projects being pursued around the
world.
Discussing his success Sid once told me that he was most inno-
vative in periods after changing jobs. As more moderate advice he
felt that any change helps to see new directions. In addition to his
devotion to work and the total concentration on any topic he was
working on, Sid had broad interests in history and in literature and
managed to nd time for both. In spite of living and working in Israel
for about 40 years and getting involved in the society, for him, like
many immigrants, English remained the natural language; he found
other English speaking people and led a book club for many years.
The vast impact of his work did not change his lifestyle or his
general approach. To the people around him, Sid was a kind and
generous friend and a stimulating partner in discussions on widely
ranging subjects of engineering, of society, and of literature. For us
at the Ben Gurion University it was a great honor to have him with
us as a colleague. His memory will remain an inspiration.
Ora Kedem
Weizmann Institute of Science
I have known Sidney Loeb as a friend and colleague for more
than 45 years. His seminal contribution to modern desalination
technology will indeed live on. I often wonder if worldwide mem-
brane desalination would be in place today had it not been for the
incredible breakthrough at UCLA in the early-1960s. Sid was indeed
a key player in the development of this remarkably innovative
new technology.
I remember Sid as a tireless worker with an open mind for new
approaches to the problem at hand. Optimization of the rst suc-
cessful cellulose acetate casting solution was indeed a remarkable
achievement, which enabled the preparation of a practical reverse
osmosis membrane. This was followed by development of tubular
casting and construction of a successful demonstration of sea water
desalination at La Jolla, California.
Among the many chapters in Sid Loebs remarkable career,
perhaps the most outstanding achievement was his vision of the
rst commercial reverse osmosis plant at Coalinga, California. Sid
was the group leader in design, construction, and operation of this
facility which provided potable water for a small community in
California. This was indeed the beginning of practical membrane
desalination as we know it today. Long-term operation of this plant
stands out as an incredible success. Sids distinguished career in
teaching and research continued at Ben Gurion University where,
among his many contributions, he published a paper on Forward
Osmosis. I feel that this remarkable concept will ultimately provide
energy in many parts of the world where a large salinity gradient
exists.
I have also known Sid on a personal levelenjoying a game
of tennis, driving his canvas topped convertible car, or enjoying
a good joke. I have also known Sid as a man with extraordinary
courage in facing a personal tragedy. Sids passing will indeed be a
loss to the desalination community and to all of us who have had
the privilege of knowing this remarkable man.
Julius (Bud) Glater
UCLA
Sid was a great man of unusual modesty, always positive, kind
and seeing the good side of things. His appreciation of the achieve-
ment of others knew no bounds. A staunch friend, he was always
there to share. I rst met him when I launched the Journal Desali-
nation in 1966. He was one of the rst authors and members of
the editorial board. His article on the Coalinga desalination plant
appeared in Volume 1, No. 1. I met him in Israel when he was invited
on behalf of UNESCO to build a desalination plant at Yotvata, and
then we met in Athens at the Conference on Fresh Water from the
Sea. Ever since he and his devoted wife Mickey and I have shared
thoughts and experiences. I was touched especially when he wrote
on a recent reprint of the paper he published in Vol. 1 of Desali-
nation You are part of my life, and Sid was indeed a part of my
life.
The desalination plant in Coalinga was Sids pride and joy. It
produced drinkable water for thirsty people. He made his break-
through whilst doing his M.Sc. thesis at UCLA with S. Sourirajan with
his development of an anisotropic (asymmetric) cellulose acetate
membrane. In casting it he found that it worked half the time then
eureka the rough side had to face the brine. He loved the Coalinga
plant since it not only proved his invention but also had a positive
impact on humanity. The sign on that plant hung in his room, and
he took it with him whenever he was asked to speak or receive an
award. On the back he wrote First RO Plant effectively delivering
fresh water to thirsty people (June 4, 1965). Sid was always quick
to give credit to anyone who was involved in his work, particularly
of course Sourirajan, and others who initiated works on RO such as
Yuster and Reid. The RO industry he pioneered has become a multi-
billion dollar business. Although Sid foresaw none of this, but he
thrived in knowing he had started it and had done something good
for mankind.
Sid went on to think about osmosis. Whereas he had helped
spawn the now dominant water industry, now he was on to energy.
In 1973, he invented an osmotic power process, pressure retarded
 Letters to the Editor / Journal of Membrane Science 339 (2009) 14
osmosis (PRO). He proposed methods for the utilization of osmotic
pressure in power generation using membranes. He maintained
that a large quantity of electric power could be produced by appli-
cation of PRO to the osmotic pairriver water/sea water. This idea
might have been inspired by his proximity to the Dead Sea and
Jordan River. Other pairs were the Mississippi/Gulf of Mexico and
Great Salt Lake/Jordan and Weber. Again basic in his motivation
was intensive scientic thought and work and his inner drive to do
good for mankind. PRO is now being developed in Norway aspir-
ing to become an important renewable energy source. Prototype
membranes are being developed and there are plants for prototype
systems and demonstration plants.
The European Desalination Society has established the Sidney
Loeb Award which has been presented twice. We will continue to
present this award for innovation every 2 years.
Shortly before his passing, Sid gave me all his papers, notes,
letters, and reprints, with the aim of publishing and archiving
his selected works. From the many annotations on his published
papers we can see that he continued to seek improvement and
accuracy. We plan to publish these papers as well as chapters by
colleagues touching on various aspects of Sids work. It is also
planned to archive these papers in a library at the Department of
Desalination and Water Treatment at Ben Gurion University where
his second RO Desalination Unit built in Kibbutz Yotvata in 1966
still stands.
Miriam Balaban
Editor, Desalination
Time erodes our memory. Today, there are only a few people who
know that the development of the cellulose acetate membrane for
seawater desalination started from the Gibbs Adsorption Isotherm
which predicts the presence of a thin pure water layer at the sur-
face of seawater. The attempt by S. Yuster to skim the pure water
layer mechanically failed. Later, S. Sourirajans experiments to let
the thin pure water layer at the seawater/membrane interface ow
through the sub-nanometer pores under pressure led to successful
recovery of drinking water from seawater. However, it took several
more years for S. Loeb and S. Sourirajan to fabricate membranes
of sufciently high uxes by the phase inversion method, the suc-
cess of which opened up the membrane separation industry that
we know now.
After my joining Dr. Sourirajans laboratory at the National
Research Council of Canada in 1969, the laboratory staff had a coffee
break every morning and it was the most enjoyable moment for us
to listen to the story of how the cellulose acetate membrane was
developed. The name of Dr. Loeb often emerged in the story telling
and became very familiar to me. Especially, it was very encourag-
ing for me to hear that Dr. Loeb came to UCLA as a graduate student
when he was about 40 years old, which eventually led to the great
discovery.
I met Dr. Loeb for the rst time at the 1980 ACS Meeting
in Las Vegas, in which a session was held to honor Loeb and
Sourirajan by commemorating the twentieth anniversary of the
discovery of the reverse osmosis membrane. I had then an oppor-
tunity to nd both Drs. Loeb and Sourirajan at the same podium
in 1996 when the NAMS Conference was held at the University of
Ottawa. I met Dr. Loeb for the last time in 2004 at the Engineering
Conference at Kloster Irsee, Germany. In each occasion, Dr. Loeb,
who was much senior to me, treated me as a scientist of equal
level.
If I am allowed to add another giant in the Membrane Sci-
ence and Technology, it would be J. Cadotte who developed the
thin lm composite membrane by in situ polymerization. Unfor-
3
tunately, I was informed during the 2008 ICOM that J. Cadotte
passed away shortly before the ICOM. There is one common thing
among these three membrane giants. It is modesty and humility.
They were always attempting to be as inconspicuous as possi-
ble among the fellow scientists, which I believe is one of the
most important human virtues even in this highly competitive
society.
Several attempts have been made to nominate Loeb and Souri-
rajan for the Nobel Prize. Alas, Dr. Loeb did not survive until he
could receive the Prize. But their achievement is far beyond the
Prize. Their names will be recorded in human history among the
saviors of mankind.
Takeshi Matsuura
University of Ottawa
Sidney Loeb (with S. Sourirajan) developed the rst asym-
metric polymer ltration membrane and tested it at UCLA and
later at Coalinga, CA in the 1960s. This work enabled syn-
thetic membrane processes to be commercially competitive. This
development is seminal to the success of synthetic membrane
ltration, and Loeb and Sourirajan will be remembered as the
founding fathers of a technology that has brought water to arid
populations, drugs for heath-care, and food and beverages to
us all.
I have known Sidney for about 35 years and rst met him in Beer-
sheva, Israel during my 5 years at the Hebrew University. I believe
the rst presentation I heard of his was at a EuRO workshop in the
Netherlands in the early-1970s. He was an idea man who was self-
effacing and gentle with others. His contribution to society may
even be larger than that mentioned above, since he rst proposed
the use of osmotic driving force to recover energy via membranes
more than 10 years ago. The Norwegians are now building a pilot
plant to test his ideas on osmotic energy recovery.
Sidney had unbelievable stamina and persistence. Late in life one
could see him and his beloved wife attend membrane meetings and
even deliver oral presentations. His passion was membranes and it
showed. A few years ago, in Southern Germany, I assisted him as the
overhead slide projectionist during a presentation on the discovery
of the asymmetric membrane. I realized that this was a historic
moment that should be enjoyed to the fullest.
Judson King and I only recently discussed the possibility of
nominating Loeb and Sourirajan for a major award. The membrane
community will miss Sidney and especially his creative ideas on
ltration and energy recovery.
Georges Belfort
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
I remember hearing about Sidneys patent on PRO (Pressure
Retarded Osmosis). It was at GSRI (New Orleans) in 1978 where I was
invited by Elias Klein and Israel Cabasso for a sabbatical year. The
same year, I remember also discussions with Harry Lonsdale and
Rich Baker at Bend on how to improve RO membranes to obtain
good performance in PRO. Twenty-ve years later, I met Sidney
with Nouhad Abidine from Aquasource. Sidney asked us to develop
appropriate membranes for PRO. We were impressed by his enthu-
siasm and pugnacity and his commitment to his old innovation
not yet in application. I am sure that Sidney was happy to hear from
Statkraft in Norway that an osmotic power plant prototype is now
being built based directly on Sidneys pioneering work in PRO.
Sidney, thank you for your contributions to the founding of
membrane science.
4 Letters to the Editor / Journal of Membrane Science 339 (2009) 14

Philippe Aptel Tel.: +1 814 863 7113; fax: +1 814 865 7846.
Laboratoire de Gnie Chimique E-mail address: zydney@engr.psu.edu
Universit Paul Sabatier
Available online 9 May 2009
Andrew Zydney
The Pennsylvania State University, Department of
Chemical Engineering, University Park, PA 16802,
United States