Sidney Loeb (1917–2008) was an American-Israeli
chemical engineer
In the field of engineering, a chemical engineer is a professional, equipped with the knowledge of chemical engineering, who works principally in the chemical industry to convert basic raw materials into a variety of products and deals with the ...
. Loeb made
reverse osmosis
Reverse osmosis (RO) is a water purification process that uses a partially permeable membrane to separate ions, unwanted molecules and larger particles from drinking water. In reverse osmosis, an applied pressure is used to overcome osmotic pre ...
(RO) practical by developing, together with Srinivasa Sourirajan, semi-permeable anisotropic membranes. The invention of the ''practical reverse osmosis membrane '' revolutionized water desalination. Loeb invented the power generating process ''pressure retarded osmosis'' (PRO)--making accessible a rich previously unknown source of green energy, and a method of producing power by a reverse electrodialysis (RED) heat engine, among other inventions in related fields. The production of energy by PRO and RED, among others, is sometimes called "osmotic power."
Biography
Loeb was born in
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City (abbreviated KC or KCMO) is the largest city in Missouri by population and area. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 508,090 in 2020, making it the 36th most-populous city in the United States. It is the central ...
in 1917. He studied
chemical engineering
Chemical engineering is an engineering field which deals with the study of operation and design of chemical plants as well as methods of improving production. Chemical engineers develop economical commercial processes to convert raw materials int ...
at the
University of Illinois
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the University ...
,
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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. Sidney Loeb received his B.S. in chemical engineering from the University of Illinois in 1941. Prior to joining UCLA as a graduate student, he worked in the Los Angeles area in the fields of petrochemicals, rocket engines, and nuclear reactors. He received his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from UCLA in 1959 and 1964, respectively. It was in the course of his M.Sc. thesis research that the Loeb-Sourirajan membrane breakthrough was achieved.
Loeb's reverse osmosis membrane was first tested in 1965 in Coalinga, California, whose water became unpotable due to the very high presence of minerals; the town received its drinking water supply from deliveries brought in by train from other towns. The membrane successfully purified Coalinga's water. Loeb patented his membrane. Throughout the duration of the patent, Loeb received $14,000 for an invention that led to a multi-billion dollar industry.
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
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) ( he, אוניברסיטת בן-גוריון בנגב, ''Universitat Ben-Guriyon baNegev'') is a public research university in Beersheba, Israel. Ben-Gurion University of the Negev has five campuses: the ...
(BGU). Loeb later accepted a half time teaching and half time research position as Professor of
Chemical Engineering
Chemical engineering is an engineering field which deals with the study of operation and design of chemical plants as well as methods of improving production. Chemical engineers develop economical commercial processes to convert raw materials int ...
at the newly established BGU. For 15 years at BGU, Loeb carried out research and taught membrane processes, desalination, and other subjects. It was at BGU that Loeb invented pressure retarded osmosis and a method of producing power by a reverse electrodialysis heat engine.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Loeb, Sidney
American chemical engineers
University of California, Los Angeles alumni
2008 deaths
1917 births
Israeli chemical engineers
20th-century American engineers