The present invention provides an intrinsically anti-microbial hollow fiber membrane for filtration of liquids. The membrane comprises a plurality of porous hollow bilayer membrane fibers wherein the liquid enters from outside of the fiber, passing through the porous membrane into the lumen of the fiber and coming out from the hollow ending of the fiber, wherein this configuration provides a liquid outside-in arrangement and retains the filtrate outside. It means that membrane of the invention has built in characteristics to act against microbes in order to provide the use with a safe liquid free from microbes. The outer side or outer wall of the hollow fibers may be configured to become hydrophobic whereas inner side or inner wall of the hollow fiber membrane may be configured to become hydrophilic to enhance the water permeability to a great extent. The hollow fiber membrane may be configured to give it an intrinsic anti-microbial capability. A device containing above said membrane has also been disclosed.

The present invention is directed to asymmetric membranes and methods for making such membranes, wherein the membranes have a void volume and nanoparticles located in the void volume. The membranes have a variety of applications, including blood purification, water purification, water decontamination and bioprocessing.

The present invention provides a separation membrane suitable for separating water from a liquid mixture containing an alcohol and water. A separation membrane 10 according to the present invention contains polyimide including a structural unit represented by formula (1). A is a linking group having a solubility parameter, in accordance with a Fedors method, of more than 5.0. B is a linking group having a solubility parameter of more than 8.56. R.sup.1 to R.sup.6 each are independently a hydrogen atom, a halogen atom, a hydroxyl group, a sulfonic group, an alkoxy group having 1 to 30 carbon atoms, or a hydrocarbon group having 1 to 30 carbon atoms. Ar.sup.1 and Ar.sup.2 each are a divalent aromatic group.

Membranes, methods of making the membranes, and methods of using the membranes are described herein. The membrane can comprise a support layer; and a selective polymer layer disposed on the support layer. The selective polymer layer can comprise a selective polymer matrix (e.g., hydrophilic polymer, an amine-containing polymer, a low molecular weight amino compound, a CO.sub.2-philic ether, or a combination thereof), and graphene oxide dispersed within the selective polymer matrix. The membranes can be used to separate carbon dioxide for hydrogen. Also provided are methods of purifying syngas using the membranes described herein.

The present disclosure relates to ruthenium promoter catalyst compositions. The ruthenium promoter catalyst compositions comprise ruthenium metal species, an oxide support material, and a promoter species independently selected from the group consisting of La, Rb, Y, Yb, K, Cs, and Ba, or hydroxides, nitrates or oxides thereof. The present disclosure also relates to various methods, processes, systems, membranes and/or reactors, which can utilise the ruthenium promoter catalyst compositions, for example in ammonia synthesis.

Cation exchange membranes and materials including silica-based ceramics, and associated methods, are provided. In some aspects, cation exchange membranes that include a silica-based ceramic that forms a coating on and/or within a porous support membrane are described. The cation exchange membranes and materials may have certain structural or chemical attributes (e.g., pore size/distribution, chemical functionalization) that, alone or in combination, can result in advantageous performance characteristics in any of a variety of applications for which selective transport of positively charged ions through membranes/materials is desired. In some embodiments, the silica-based ceramic contains relatively small pores (e.g., substantially spherical nanopores) that may contribute to some such advantageous properties. In some embodiments, the cation exchange membrane or material includes sulfonate and/or sulfonic acid groups covalently bound to the silica-based ceramic.

Purification devices and methods remove perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) from PFC-contaminated water using temperature swing adsorption and desorption.

A method for manufacturing a membrane, which includes at least the following steps of: preparing a mixture that contains at least an aqueous solution of a cationic polymer whose pH is between 5 and 8, the cationic polymer having positively-charged groups in this aqueous solution, and an aqueous solution of an anionic polymer, the anionic polymer having negatively-charged groups in this aqueous solution; stirring the mixture; leaving the mixture to mature to cause the ionic interaction between positively-charged groups of the cationic polymer and negatively-charged groups of the anionic polymer, until obtaining within the mixture a membrane in the form of a hydrogel; adding at least one crosslinking agent so as to crosslink the membrane; drying the crosslinked membrane obtained upon completion of the previous step. This membrane is used for the treatment of liquid or gaseous effluents, as well as an antimicrobial support or for heterogeneous catalysis.

Membranes, methods of making the membranes, and methods of using the membranes are described herein. The membranes can comprise a gas permeable support layer, an inorganic layer disposed on the support, the inorganic layer comprising a plurality of discreet nanoparticles having an average particle size of less than 1 micron, and a selective polymer layer disposed on the inorganic layer, the selective polymer layer comprising a selective polymer having a CO.sub.2:N.sub.2 selectivity of at least 10 at 57° C. In some embodiments, the membrane can be selectively permeable to an acidic gas. The membranes can be used, for example, to separate gaseous mixtures, such as flue gas.

A solar-thermal vapor-permeation membrane is provided. The solar-thermal vapor-permeation membrane includes a thermally conductive, microporous support layer having a feed surface, and an active separation layer adjacent the feed surface of the support layer. The support layer is capable of absorbing solar-thermal radiation. Utilization of solar energy for a membrane separation process replaces fossil-fuel derived energy with renewable energy as the driving force and does not involve the generation of undesirable greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore, the solar-thermal vapor-permeation process using the provided membrane is cost effective, energy efficient, and environmentally friendly.