A semipermeable membrane includes a holding body with a low water absorption property having a lattice structure and having a semipermeable property in a liquid phase. A cell-culturing device is provided with the semipermeable membrane at least at a portion thereof. A tissue-type chip is provided with the cell-culturing device including one type of cells. An organ-type chip is provided with the cell-culturing device including at least two types of cells. A kit for providing a multicellular structure is provided with an openable and closable sealed container including the tissue-type chip or, and a culture medium. An organ-type chip system is provided with at least two of the tissue-type chips or the organ-type chips, and the tissue-type chips or the organ-type chips are connected while maintaining a sealing property. A cell-culturing method is a method of using the cell-culturing device.

Lithium brine is treated with a multiple pass nanofiltration (NF) membrane system. Sulfate is added to permeate from an upstream pass before it flows through a downstream pass. Optionally the sulfate may be added to the permeate by dosing it with sulfuric acid or a slat such as sodium sulfate. The softened brine may then be processed further, for example by a combination of solvent extraction, electrolysis, crystallization and drying, to produce a lithium hydroxide product that can be used to make batteries.

A chemical liquid manufacturing apparatus, including a first system and a second system, is provided. The first system includes at least one first filtration medium, selected from a first filter, a first ion exchange membrane and a first ion adsorption membrane, wherein the first system is configured to process a material of at least one time. The second system includes at least one second filtration medium, selected from a second filter, a second ion exchange membrane and a second ion adsorption membrane, wherein the second system is configured for recirculation and to process the material of at least two times.

The present invention describes a syrup of tagatose and galactose as main components together with other secondary products such as glycerol, oligosaccharides and other sugars in a minority amount.

A reverse osmosis system for a seawater desalination system is provided. The reverse osmosis system includes: a high pressure pump configured to supply pretreated seawater at high pressure; a reverse osmosis apparatus configured to desalinate by reverse osmosis the seawater supplied from the high pressure pump; and a pressure exchanger connected to a high salinity water outlet of the reverse osmosis apparatus and configured to recover part of pressure of discharged high salinity water to the reverse osmosis apparatus, wherein the reverse osmosis apparatus includes: a vessel in which a plurality of reverse osmosis membrane units are arranged in a first stage and a second stage; an inflow and outflow portion coupled to a first end of the vessel and connected to a seawater inlet and a high salinity water outlet; a partition wall configured to partition an inner space of the inflow and outflow portion into two spaces; and a transport space portion coupled to a second end of the vessel and configured to guide the seawater moved from a plurality of reverse osmosis membrane units arranged in the first stage to move to a plurality of reverse osmosis membrane units arranged in the second stage.

Process for upgrading effluent treatment plants for pulp and paper production processes, where salts are removed from the effluent for water reuse and chemical recovery. The process comprises a first dialysis system for salt removal, a second treatment system for recovery or re-concentration, and optionally a post-treatment of the re-concentrate preventing liquid discharges to the environment. In the first system, a reversible electrodialysis or reversible pulsed step is carried out, separating the salts from the effluent, which are sent to the second treatment system to concentrate the salts (re-concentrate) or transform them into useful chemicals for the same process (recovery). Chemical recovery is achieved by electrodialysis with bipolar membranes or metathesis, to reduce the re-concentrate stream, which cannot be reused in the same plant. Lastly, this stream may be treated by spray drying, crystallization or evaporation.

The invention provides an improvement in terms of control and process technology for a method of continuous removal of a component from a liquid mixture using a membrane unit comprising at least one membrane stage. The improvement is that at least some of the overall permeate stream obtained is recycled to the feed vessel and/or beyond the feed vessel but upstream of the conveying device. The presently disclosed method can especially be used for separation of a homogeneously dissolved catalyst from a liquid reaction mixture.

A molecular filtration device and method of use capable of filtering and purifying molecules of a particular characteristic, wherein the amount of molecule to be filtered may be in the nanogram range and may be dispersed in a relatively large volume of solution. The resultant elution may include a relatively high concentration of desired molecule, due to a relatively small volume.

An object of the present invention is to provide a chemical liquid purification method which makes it possible to obtain a chemical liquid having excellent defect inhibition performance. The chemical liquid purification method according to an embodiment of the present invention is a chemical liquid purification method including obtaining a chemical liquid by filtering a substance to be purified containing an organic solvent by using two or more kinds of filters having different pore sizes, in which a supply pressure P.sub.1 of the substance to be purified supplied to a filter F.sub.max having a maximum pore size X.sub.1 among the two or more kinds of filters and a supply pressure P.sub.2 of the substance to be purified supplied to a filter F.sub.min having a minimum pore size X.sub.2 among the two or more kinds of filters satisfy P.sub.1>P.sub.2.

A method may include: introducing a fluid comprising a first immiscible phase and a second immiscible phase into a contacting vessel comprising multiple contact stages: flowing the fluid through a first fiber bundle disposed in the contacting vessel; separating at least a portion of the first immiscible phase from the second immiscible phase; and flowing the separated portion of the first immiscible phase through a second fiber bundle disposed in the contacting vessel.