A water filtration system is provided comprising first and second banks of water filter assemblies, wherein the system is arranged to provide filtered water from one bank of water filter assemblies while using some of the filtered water to reverse flush the other bank of water filtration assemblies. A method of filtering water by passing it through the system is also provided.

A bubble generation device is provided which is capable of discharging bubbles of about the same size from each of a plurality of bubble discharge ports. The device is provided with a bubble discharge chamber communicating with each of a plurality of bubble discharge ports, a turnaround path including a first communication port communicating with a gas storage chamber and a second communication port communicating with the bubble discharge chamber on a downstream side in a gas traveling direction of a turn-around point of the turnaround path, opening areas of the plurality of bubble discharge ports being the same as each other, and a total of the opening areas of the plurality of bubble discharge ports being smaller than an opening area of the second communication port.

A portable filtration system is described. The system may comprise: a mixing portion, comprising: a pump adaptor and a contaminant regulator. The pump adaptor may comprise: an upper plate, a lower plate, and a screen. The screen may axially extend between the upper and lower plates, wherein the upper plate, the lower plate, and the screen define a channel of a mixing chamber. The contaminant regulator may comprise a through-passage coupled to the upper plate, wherein the through-passage is in fluid communication with the mixing chamber.

A portable water filtration system that is configured to provide potable water from a contaminated water source. The portable water filtration system includes a pre-treatment module and a polishing module that are fluidly coupled and contained within a stackable housing configuration. The pre-treatment module has disposed therein a pump, two solenoid valves, a first filter and a pair of ultra-filters wherein the aforementioned elements are all fluidly coupled utilizing plastic tubing. Water is cycled through the elements of the pre-treatment module and is then directed to the polishing module. Disposed within the polishing module are four filters that have filtration material therein operable to filter material within a range of 0.0002 to 0.0009 microns. The portable water filtration system is operable in a filtration mode and a flush mode.

A filtration system has a filter element with a filtration membrane, a feed inlet and a concentrate outlet on a first side of the membrane and a permeate outlet on a second side of the membrane. A feed line with a feed shutoff valve is in fluid communication with the feed inlet, and a concentrate return line with a concentrate shutoff valve is in fluid communication with the concentrate outlet. A feed pump is in fluid communication with the feed inlet via the feed line and the feed shutoff valve, and a backwash pump is in fluid communication with the permeate outlet. In a priming phase of a backwash operation, the feed shutoff valve and the concentrate shutoff valve are closed and the backwash supply is operable to deliver fluid to the filtration element and equalize pressure between the first side and the second side of the filtration membrane.

The present invention provides a method for preparing a composition comprising highly concentrated antibodies by ultrafiltration in batch concentration mode having a first constant feed rate step and a second controlled feed rate step.

Provided is a method of washing a hollow fiber membrane device which can efficiently remove fine particles while limiting the impact of an ultrapure water production system on the starting time. The method of washing a hollow fiber membrane device includes washing a hollow fiber membrane device with an alkaline aqueous solution before the hollow fiber membrane device is installed in an ultrapure water production system. The hollow fiber membrane device is washed by means of a washing device that is different from the ultrapure water production system.

A renal therapy apparatus includes a blood filter, a blood pump, a treatment fluid pump, and a control unit configured to control at least one of the blood pump or the treatment fluid pump during a filter cleaning sequence. The blood filter includes a plurality of hollow fiber membranes. During the filter cleaning sequence, a fluid mixture is formed by mixing air with a blood-compatible and physiologically safe fluid. Also during the filter cleaning sequence, the fluid mixture is transferred across insides and/or outsides of the plurality of hollow fiber membranes at least one time. The use of the fluid mixture enables the filter cleaning sequence to be performed during the blood treatment.

This specification describes membrane based filtration and softening systems and methods. A system has a microfiltration or ultrafiltration (MF/UF) membrane unit upstream of a nanofiltration or reverse osmosis (NF/RO) membrane unit, optionally with no intermediate tank. In some cases, the system and method may be used with feed water provided at municipal line pressure to the membranes. NF/RO permeate is collected in a tank and then pumped to a header. Treated water may be drawn from the header for use or recycled to the system, for example to backwash or flush one or both of the membrane units. In a combined process, NF/RO permeate flushes the feed side of the NF/RO unit and then backwashes the MF/UF unit. In another process, the MF/UF unit and NF/RO unit are filled with NF/RO permeate before being placed in a standby mode.

A cycling ultra-thin channel filtration (cUTF) method, system and module are disclosed for concentration and purification of biomolecules. In one embodiment, a cUTF system includes a cUTF module and a cycle controller to load a feed aliquot of a feed stream into the cUTF module inducing permeation of the feed stream to build a boundary layer by pressurizing the feed stream, to stop permeation and to recover a retentate aliquot in a repeating cycle.