The invention is related to a super-hydrophilic/underwater super-oleophobic attapulgite separation membrane, and a preparation method and use thereof. Monodispersed hydrophilic nanoparticulates are loaded on a surface of nanoparticles, to obtain a super-hydrophilic nanocomposite material with a micro-nanostructure. The nanocomposite material is dispersed in a mixed aqueous solution of polyacrylamide and methyl cellulose, to obtain a membrane-forming slurry after vigorous stirring. A disc-shaped porous support is infiltrated with water and placed on a horizontal surface, and then a certain volume of the membrane-forming slurry is slowly and uniformly drip-coated on a surface of the support, dried and sintered to obtain a super-hydrophilic/underwater super-oleophobic microfiltration membrane layer.

The present invention relates to a melt-joined filter element with improved testability after dry steaming or alternatively after sterilization by irradiation, to a method for producing the filter element according to the invention, and to the use of the filter element for filtering solutions.

Disclosed is a hollow fiber membrane module including a case and a hollow fiber membrane built in the case, wherein the hollow fiber membrane contains a polysulfone-based polymer and a hydrophilic polymer, and satisfies the following (A) and (B), and an amount of an eluted substance contained in a liquid obtained by circulating ultrapure water heated at 37° C. through a passage of an inner surface side of the hollow fiber membrane for 4 hours at 200 mL/min is 1.0 mg/m.sup.2 or less: (A) an insoluble component accounts for less than 3% by mass of the total mass of the hollow fiber membrane when the hollow fiber membrane is dissolved in N,N-dimethylacetamide; and (B) a flexible layer exists on a surface of a functional layer in a wet state and the flexible layer has a thickness of 7 nm or more. The present invention provides a hollow fiber membrane module including a hollow fiber membrane containing a polysulfone-based polymer and a hydrophilic polymer built therein, which elutes little eluted substance and exhibits high biocompatibility, while change in performance due to crosslinking of the hydrophilic polymer is suppressed.

A method is disclosed for forming a microporous membrane that incorporates an additive having low water solubility at the membrane's active surface from a precipitation fluid. The incorporated additive at the membrane's active surface can improve one or more of the membrane's hydrophilicity, wettability, anti-fouling behavior, blood compatibility, and stability over long periods of use or repetitive use. The microporous membrane with this modified active surface can be a hollow fiber, flat sheet, or other self-supporting shape. The microporous membranes can be used for membrane filtering or a solute and/or solvent exchange process, which involve contacting aqueous-based fluid or blood with the microporous membrane, such processes for dialysis, blood oxygenation, or blood separation filtering, or other processes.

The invention concerns the field of polymer chemistry and relates to membranes, such as those that can be used, for example, for the preparation of aqueous solutions using microfiltration or ultrafiltration.

The object of the present invention is to specify membranes which have improved anti-fouling properties and sliding friction properties.

The object is attained with membranes comprised at least predominantly of multiblock copolymers of the general formula (1)

##STR00001##

where X=connection point E=C.sub.2 to C.sub.4 alkyl ether A=other block component not containing silicone R=C.sub.1 to C.sub.4 alkyl radical and/or phenyl radical m=1<m<500 n=0≤n<100 o=1<o<10 p=1<p<10 z=1<z<25, the molar ratio of the silicone-containing block component and the other block component A in the multiblock copolymer is between 5:1 and 1:5, and wherein the silicon-containing block components are predominantly arranged at the surface of the membranes.

One aspect of the present invention is a composite hollow fiber membrane including: a semipermeable membrane layer; and a supporting layer that has a hollow fiber shape and is porous, wherein the semipermeable membrane layer contains a crosslinked polyamide polymer composed of a polyfunctional amine compound and a polyfunctional acid halide compound, the supporting layer has a gradient structure in which pores of the supporting layer gradually increase in size from one of an inner surface and an outer surface to the other, has a cut-off particle size of 0.001 to 0.3 μm, and contains a crosslinked hydrophilic resin on at least a dense surface having smaller pores of the inner surface and the outer surface, and the semipermeable membrane layer is in contact with the dense surface of the supporting layer.

The invention is related to a super-hydrophilic/underwater super-oleophobic attapulgite separation membrane, and a preparation method and use thereof. Monodispersed hydrophilic nanoparticulates are loaded on a surface of nanoparticles, to obtain a super-hydrophilic nanocomposite material with a micro-nanostructure. The nanocomposite material is dispersed in a mixed aqueous solution of polyacrylamide and methyl cellulose, to obtain a membrane-forming slurry after vigorous stirring. A disc-shaped porous support is infiltrated with water and placed on a horizontal surface, and then a certain volume of the membrane-forming slurry is slowly and uniformly drip-coated on a surface of the support, dried and sintered to obtain a super-hydrophilic/underwater super-oleophobic microfiltration membrane layer.

A super-hydrophilic membrane comprising a metal mesh comprising copper and a coating comprising copper(I) iodide crystals and a method of preparation thereof are disclosed. The membranes provided by the invention have improved physical properties, such as super-hydrophilicity as well as underwater oleophobicity, and are specifically adapted for oil/water separation processes.

A porous membrane has a thickness of 150 m or greater. The pore diameters of a first surface are smaller than the pore diameters of a second surface. The average value of the pore diameters of the first surface is 60 nm or less, and the coefficient of variation of the pore diameters is 10% or greater and 50% or less.

Zeolite membrane sheets for separation of mixtures containing water are provided, as well as methods for making the same. Thin, but robust, zeolite membrane sheets having an inter-grown zeolite crystal film directly on a thin, less than 200 micron thick, porous support sheet free of any surface pores with a size above 10 microns. The zeolite membrane film thickness is less than about 10 microns above the support surface and less than about 5 microns below the support surface. Methods of preparing the membrane are disclosed which include coating of the support sheet surface with a seed coating solution containing the parent zeolite crystals with mean particle sizes from about 0.5 to 2.0 microns at loading of 0.05-0.5 mg/cm2 and subsequent growth of the seeded sheet in a growth reactor loaded with a growth solution over a temperature range of about 45 C. to about 120 C.