Methods of fabricating a membrane comprising proteoliposomes having protein water channels are provided herein. The method may include providing a porous substrate, depositing a solution containing proteoliposomes on the porous substrate, and then contacting the porous substrate with an aqueous monomer solution and an organic monomer solution to form a selective layer on the porous substrate embedding the proteoliposomes. The method may include depositing the aqueous monomer solution, then the solution containing the proteoliposomes, then the organic monomer solution, to form the selective layer. The present disclosure also describes the membrane and a system operable to accommodate both methods.

A method for controlling fiber cross-alignment in a nanofiber membrane, comprising: providing a multiple segment collector in an electrospinning device including a first and second segment electrically isolated from an intermediate segment positioned between the first and second segment, collectively presenting a cylindrical structure, rotating the cylindrical structure around a longitudinal axis proximate to an electrically charged fiber emitter; electrically grounding or charging edge conductors circumferentially resident on the first and second segment, maintaining intermediate collector electrically neutral; dispensing electrospun fiber toward the collector, the fiber attaching to edge conductors and spanning the separation space between edge conductors; attracting electrospun fiber attached to the edge conductors to the surface of the cylindrical structure, forming a first fiber layer; increasing or decreasing rotation speed of the cylindrical structure to alter the angular cross-alignment relationship between aligned nanofibers in adjacent layers, the rotation speed being altered to achieve a target relational angle.

A process for removing Pb.sup.2+, Hg.sup.2+, K.sup.+ and NH.sub.4.sup.+ toxins from bodily fluids is disclosed. The process involves contacting the bodily fluid with an ion exchange composition to remove the metal toxins in the bodily fluid, including blood and gastrointestinal fluid. Alternatively, blood can be contacted with a dialysis solution which is then contacted with the ion exchange composition. The ion exchange compositions are represented by the following empirical formula:

A.sup.r+.sub.pM.sup.s+.sub.1-xM′.sup.t+.sub.xSi.sub.nO.sub.m

A composition comprising the above ion exchange compositions in combination with bodily fluids or dialysis solution is also disclosed. The ion exchange compositions may be supported by porous networks of biocompatible polymers such as carbohydrates or proteins.

A piece of substrate material is formed under heat and pressure by a roller against a cavity or platen into a shaped substrate sheet having one or more depressions. Two substrate sheets are bonded together to form a substrate wherein the one or more depressions form one or more interior channels. The substrate is coated with a dope in a casting device having a guide portion corresponding to the shape of the substrate sheets and quenched to form a filtering membrane.

The present invention relates to a continuous process for preparing permselective hollow fiber membranes being suitable e.g. for hemodialysis, hemodiafiltration and hemofiltration of blood which comprises a two-stage drying and tempering treatment of the hollow fiber membranes. According to a further aspect, the invention relates to a continuous process for drying permselective hollow fiber membranes on-line. The invention also relates to devices for on-line drying of permselective hollow fiber membranes.

The invention relates to a method of determining a permeation property of hollow-fibre membranes wherein the permeation property of the hollow-fibre membrane is determined on a hollow-fibre membrane bundle which has been introduced into a housing and has terminally open hollow-fibre membranes at a first end of the hollow-fibre membrane bundle and terminally closed hollow-fibre membranes at a second end of the hollow-fibre membrane bundle. The invention more particularly relates to a method of determining the ultrafiltration rate and/or the ultrafiltration coefficient of hollow-fibre membranes.

The present invention relates to a membrane distillation system comprising a flat-sheet composite mixed matrix hydrophilic/hydrophobic membrane having at least a hydrophilic layer and a hydrophobic layer. The hydrophilic layer comprises a hydrophilic polymer and inorganic nanoparticles having high thermal conductivity. The hydrophobic layer comprises fluorinated surface-modifying macromolecules (SMM). Also disclosed is a phase inversion method for manufacturing the membrane.

The present invention relates to a polymeric hollow fiber membrane and a carbon molecular sieve hollow fiber membrane, both of which have excellent gas separation performance, and processes for preparing the same. Specifically, the present invention relates to a hybrid polymeric hollow fiber membrane that comprises a glassy polymer containing fluorine and a ladder-structured polysilsesquioxane, a hybrid carbon molecular sieve hollow fiber membrane prepared by pyrolysis thereof, and processes for preparing the same. The hybrid polymeric hollow fiber membrane and the hybrid carbon molecular sieve hollow fiber membrane according to the embodiments of the present invention are excellent in gas flux and selectivity and can have a large surface area per unit volume. Thus, they can be advantageously used for separating gases with a high energy efficiency on a large scale.

A piece of substrate material is formed under heat and pressure by a roller against a cavity or platen into a shaped substrate sheet having one or more depressions. Two substrate sheets are bonded together to form a substrate wherein the one or more depressions form one or more interior channels. The substrate is coated with a dope in a casting device having a guide portion corresponding to the shape of the substrate sheets and quenched to form a filtering membrane.

Hollow-fibre membrane having at least one first curl in the form of a first wave which is characterized by a first oscillation plane and a first wavelength and at least one second curl in the form of a second wave which is characterized by a second oscillation plane and a second wavelength, characterized in that the first oscillation plane and the second oscillation plane confine an angle with one another which is different from zero.