Membrane oxygenators useful in a variety of medical situations, including various short-term procedures and relatively longer-term life support, and components of membrane-based oxygenators, such as conditioning modules for exchanging oxygen for carbon dioxide during extracorporeal conditioning of blood, are described. A conditioning module includes a plurality of mats of hollow fibers and a potting material disposed throughout the peripheral edges of the mats to create a circumferential seal that defines a passageway through the plurality of fiber mats having a substantially circular cross-sectional shape. The circumferential seal defines an effective fiber length for each of the hollow fibers. A resisting member is disposed across the proximal ends of at least some of the hollow fibers and is adapted to resist fluid flow into each of the hollow fibers based on the effective fiber length of the particular hollow fiber.

Membrane oxygenators useful in a variety of medical situations, including various short-term procedures and relatively longer-term life support, and components of membrane-based oxygenators, such as conditioning modules for exchanging oxygen for carbon dioxide during extracorporeal conditioning of blood, are described. A conditioning module includes a plurality of mats of hollow fibers and a potting material disposed throughout the peripheral edges of the mats to create a circumferential seal that defines a passageway through the plurality of fiber mats having a substantially circular cross-sectional shape. The circumferential seal defines an effective fiber length for each of the hollow fibers. A resisting member is disposed across the proximal ends of at least some of the hollow fibers and is adapted to resist fluid flow into each of the hollow fibers based on the effective fiber length of the particular hollow fiber.

A composite that includes an expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (ePTFE) membrane having a porous microstructure. The porous microstructure of the ePTFE membrane is impregnated with a stiffening polymer. An acoustic device assembly that includes the composite and an acoustic device is also described. The composite and the acoustic device assembly can exhibit an insertion loss of less than 7 dB at 1 kHz when measured by the Acoustic Response Measurement (“ARM”) Test.

A composite that includes an expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (ePTFE) membrane having a porous microstructure. The porous microstructure of the ePTFE membrane is impregnated with a stiffening polymer. An acoustic device assembly that includes the composite and an acoustic device is also described. The composite and the acoustic device assembly can exhibit an insertion loss of less than 7 dB at 1 kHz when measured by the Acoustic Response Measurement (“ARM”) Test.

The invention relates to a mechanically stable ultrafiltration membrane and to a method for producing such an ultrafiltration membrane.

The invention relates to a mechanically stable ultrafiltration membrane and to a method for producing such an ultrafiltration membrane.

Disclosed are methods for coupling a ligand to a composite material. Covalent bonds are formed between functionalized composite materials and ligands as a ligand solution flows through or across the composite materials. The composite materials are useful as chromatographic separation media.

This disclosure relates to a method which involves the steps of: (a) providing an aqueous solution comprising a protein and a polyalkoxy fatty acyl surfactant of general formula I

##STR00001##

wherein R.sup.1—C(═O) is a fatty acyl group, R.sup.2 is H or a substituted or unsubstituted hydrocarbyl group, X.sup.1 is S, O or NH, X.sup.2 is S, O or NH, n is 0 or an integer of 1-5, R.sup.3 is a polymeric group comprising polymerized units of general formula II and III

##STR00002##

(b) contacting the aqueous solution with a separation membrane, and (c) subjecting the aqueous solution to a diafiltration step and/or to an ultrafiltration step to produce a retentate product which is an aqueous solution comprising the protein, whereby the compound of formula I reduces aggregation of the protein in method steps (a)-(c) and whereby the compound of formula I passes through the separation membrane in step (c).

This disclosure relates to a method which involves the steps of: (a) providing an aqueous solution comprising a protein and a polyalkoxy fatty acyl surfactant of general formula I

##STR00001##

wherein R.sup.1—C(═O) is a fatty acyl group, R.sup.2 is H or a substituted or unsubstituted hydrocarbyl group, X.sup.1 is S, O or NH, X.sup.2 is S, O or NH, n is 0 or an integer of 1-5, R.sup.3 is a polymeric group comprising polymerized units of general formula II and III

##STR00002##

(b) contacting the aqueous solution with a separation membrane, and (c) subjecting the aqueous solution to a diafiltration step and/or to an ultrafiltration step to produce a retentate product which is an aqueous solution comprising the protein, whereby the compound of formula I reduces aggregation of the protein in method steps (a)-(c) and whereby the compound of formula I passes through the separation membrane in step (c).

The present invention provides a nanocomposite coating comprising: a two-dimensional material; and a polymer, wherein the nanocomposite coating is semi-permeable and is for providing on porous material to improve selectivity towards one phase over others thereby enabling separation of that phase by mass transfer. There is also provided a phase transformation and mass transfer unit comprising porous material coated with the nanocomposite coating, and a low temperature liquid phase separation method comprising flowing liquid mixture through a phase transformation and mass transfer unit comprising porous material coated with the nanocomposite coating.